Arizona Attempts To Make Trolling Illegal 474
LordofEntropy writes "Though unlikely to pass any First Amendment test. Arizona's Gov. Jan Brewer has a bill on her desk that would in essence make 'trolling' illegal. The law states 'It is unlawful for any person, with intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy or offend, to use any electronic or digital device and use any obscene, lewd or profane language or suggest any lewd or lascivious act, or threaten to inflict physical harm to the person or property of any person.'"
This did indeed manage to pass through both houses of legislature and only needs a signature to become law.
Breaking news: (Score:5, Informative)
The rest of the country is unsurprised.
Re:well.... (Score:5, Informative)
Not to be pedantic: The State of Arizona had little to do with one school district canceling Mexican-American studies. That was a course taught at a few schools in Tucson, and the school district shut it down. There are reasonable arguments both ways on that call.
There was some pressure from the state Dept of Ed, but it was truly a local decision.
That said, as a long-time resident and observer, general knuckleheadedness runs both deep and wide in our fair state. If Brewer signs this bill, I can't imagine it withstanding any appeal. This is basic First Amendment stuff.
Re:well.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:well.... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Arizona (Score:5, Informative)
You joke, but Texas currently (for at least the past 15 years) has a significant net inflow of migration from other states - no income tax (and a reasonable regulatory climate for starting a business or building something) is a nice draw, I guess. In any case, don't mess with Texas.
Re:Remember: (Score:5, Informative)
Holy crap, you're not kidding [infowars.com].
I'm sorry, but if someone in uniform who has the authority to arrest and detain you does that, that should be a lot more than a misdemeanor. Because if I threw a cup of coffee into a TSA screener's face, I'd be sure as hell facing an entirely different set of charges. In fact, it would likely be a Federal offense.
Breaking news: Bill being withdrawn (Score:5, Informative)
If I could interrupt what passes for discussion in Slashdot,
I heard this on the radio on the way into work this morning: That due to public outcry, the bill's authors realize they screwed the pooch on this one (deliberately being offensive...) and have quietly asked the governor not to sign it.
There may be another bill later, but it may be slightly less insane.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled panic.
Re:First Illegal Troll (Score:3, Informative)
For the past few years I've made a point to try and read the actual text of any law that interests me and this is by far the most incomprehensible one that I've read. I had no real problem reading the entire Affordable Healthcare Act, but this one just doesn't compute for me. Somebody send them an english teacher to teach them basic sentence structure.
There is a comprehensible sentance after the one quoted above that is pretty interesting:
"It is also unlawful to otherwise disturb by repeated anonymous telephone calls ELECTRONIC OR DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS the peace, quiet or right of privacy of any person at the place where the telephone call or calls COMMUNICATIONS were received."
Re:First Illegal Troll (Score:5, Informative)
My point is that a troll should be subtle. It should elicit responses (whether through anger or humor) without resorting to those low tactics. The flame war resulting from the original troll may well descend to that point, but the original troll itself should be at a higher moral level.