Tuesday, March 11, 2008

a threat to the First Amendment

Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal. 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.

While I certainly do not agree with some of the nasty stuff that is posted anonymously, I cannot support a measure like this in any form. I consider it a grave threat to free speech.

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