Wednesday, May 23, 2012
News Anonymous Internet Commenters Are Pissing Off New York Politicians
Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Wed, May 23, 2012 at 12:50 PM
But the effort is real, and, apparently, it all comes down to a matter of cyberbullying. "Victims of anonymous cyberbullies need protection," State Senator Tom O' Mara, a sponsor of the Senate bill, said in a press conference. "We're hopeful that this legislation can be helpful to the overall effort to deter and prevent anonymous criminals from hiding behind modern technology and using the Internet to bully, defame and harass their victims."
While O'Mara highlighted cyberbullying in schools, Republican Assemblyman Jim Conte, a co-sponsor of the Assembly bill, in a statement on his website, applied the term to "posting anonymous criticism of local businesses" as well as "mean-spirited and baseless political attacks." Hello, slippery slope. But what's that nonsense about baseless political attacks? America (sup, GOP) runs on baseless political attacks.
Other commentators have pointed out that the legislation could have less to do with political campaigns and more to do with the money people have sunk into Facebook shares. Wired brought up this chin-stroker about the intent of the legislation: "A cynic, however, might see an attempt by lawmakers to prop up Facebook’s falling stock price via an implicit endorsement of the Facebook model of identity on the internet."
Sheesh.
[via Wired]
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