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Lawmaker Hopes to Make Anonymous Blogging Illegal

By Garry J. Wise, Wise Law Office, Toronto

In an effort to address the ongoing problem of online bullying, Kentucky representative Tim Crouch is attempting to introduce a bill that would make it illegal to post anonymously online.

Lexington, Kentucky's WTVQ News reports:

The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site. Their full name would be used anytime a comment is posted.

If the bill becomes law, the website operator would have to pay if someone was allowed to post anonymously on their site. The fine would be five-hundred dollars for a first offense and one-thousand dollars for each offense after that.

?Representative Couch says enforcing this bill if it became law would be a challenge.

- Annie Noa Kenet, Toronto

........

Note: Given the ample First Amendement protections afforded online anonymity by U.S. courts to date, it is had to imagine how this Bill, if passed, could survive a consititutional challenge.

For more see:

• Bloggers And The Law - On Orthomom, Avis and Bill O'Reilly - from the Wise Law Blog archives
• EFF Protects Free Speech Rights for New Jersey Blogger - Judge Quashes Bogus Subpoena for Critic's Identity - on the TruthSquad case from the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Court Protects Blogger's Anonymity - from Legal Blog Watch on the New York Orthomom case

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

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Full post as published by Wise Law Blog on March 16, 2008 (boomark / email).