Sunday, January 15, 2006

Shortest Political Quiz / Flame anonymously, go to jail

Ladies and gentlemen, forget about the World's Smallest Political Quiz. Here is the World's Shortest Political Quiz !


George Bush has officially ended your freedom of speech on the Internet if you're an American. Yep, this is no joke :

Create an e-annoyance, go to jail

It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess.

This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison.

"The use of the word 'annoy' is particularly problematic," says Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "What's annoying to one person may not be annoying to someone else."

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