I like the title change on the thread, I was confused at first when I first saw it. :lol:

 

Whether it's Tim Couch, THAT Tim Couch or whomever, it's a stupid, stupid, STUPID idea.

I have never in my life been more opposed to a piece of legislation than this one. And that includes tort reform.

 

The proposed legislation is patently illegal. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 protects online ISP's and message board operators, giving them complete and total immunity from any cause of action for messages posted or acts committed by their members, and also, in all likelihood, would prohibit enforcement of a subpoena or court order from the issuance of the identities of anonymous posters. It is a law that has been enforced time and time again, most recently when the lawsuit against MySpace for failing to protect its membership from online predators was thrown out on 2/13.

 

More important to me, however, is the fact that we here have a Republican state representative who is attempting to use pervasive government legislation to intrude into private affairs and interfere with out lives. It sickens me. The GOP was once the party of low government intervention and has now almost become the party of Big Brother. They don't THINK before they write something about the inherent nature of the bill.

 

Anonymity, and the right to remain anonymous, has been an American institution since colonial America. Republicans should be fighting to protect this. Instead, the attempt to fight it seems to me to be a concession that liberals have cornered the market on free speech in cyberspace, and I refuse to so concede.

^ Thanks for the analysis. Not being a Constitutional scholar, my knee-jerk reaction nevertheless was something along the lines of "this cannot possiby even get to first base."

Here is the Bill:

 

AN ACT relating to information technology.

 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:

 

 

âSECTION 1. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 369 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:

 

As used in Sections 1 to 3 of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Information content provider" means any person, business, or entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation and dissemination of information through the Internet or any interactive service;

 

(2) "Interactive service provider" means any person, business, or entity authorized to do business, or doing business, in the Commonwealth of Kentucky that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation, development, or maintenance of any interactive service;

 

(3) "Interactive service" means any Internet-based Web site, blog, or message board that allows users to provide information to be viewed by other users; and

 

(4) "Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks.

 

âSECTION 2. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 369 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:

 

(1) An interactive service provider shall establish, maintain, and enforce a policy to require information content providers to register a legal name, address, and valid electronic mail address as a precondition of using the interactive service.

 

(2) An interactive service provider shall establish, maintain, and enforce a policy to require information content providers to be conspicuously identified with all information provided by, at a minimum, their registered legal name.

 

(3) An interactive service provider shall establish reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name, address, and valid electronic mail address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person.

 

âSECTION 3. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 369 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:

 

An interactive service provider that violates any of the provisions of Section 2 of this Act shall be fined five hundred dollars ($500) for the first offense and one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each subsequent offense.

This is a ridiculous bill. Hopefully, it will be put where it can do the most good...the recyclables bin.

I doubt this gets much support at all. Like Hearsay said it's illegal first and foremost. It sounds to me like this Tim Couch got his poor little feelings hurt. Get some thick skin and quit wasting the legislature's time with pointless bills.

If this bill does get any momentum, maybe it is time for an un-official BGP gathering in Frankfort.