http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/n...m_campaign=rss
Arnie just signed a new law that makes malicious impersonation online a misdemeanor in order to try to curtail cyber-bullying.
Im interested in what other folks think about this?
From the Article:
The purpose of such a law is to discourage people such as the "MySpace mom," accused of impersonating a teenage boy online whose bullying eventually led to another teen's suicide, as well as a woman who posted a fake Casual Encounters ad on Craigslist impersonating a 17-year-old girl with whom the woman had an Internet argument. There was also a case where a group of teenagers posed as one of their peers on Facebook. They represented him as a sexually obscene racist and amassed hundreds of "friends" as if he were running the profile himself, which the targeted teen believed had turned off college recruiters.
The law goes into effect at the beginning of 2011, and critics say it could have a chilling effect on free speech. A group that does impersonations of corporations for the purpose of activism, Yes Men, told IDG that "political cronies" could use the law to attack those trying to expose information to the public through parody. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has also expressed concern that such a law could easily be used to "squelch political speech" and described the bill as "dangerous."