

Internet Posting Removal Act - mtgx
http://legiscan.com/IL/bill/SB1614

======
tempestn
The first comment there (by Leslie Wheeler) summarizes the ridiculousness
nicely:

"We may have an early candidate for Worst Illinois Senate Bill of 2013.

First of all, Illinois does not have jurisdiction over the entirety of the
internet. Illinois has jurisdiction over Illinois. Geographical location isn't
all that important to the web hosting industry - for the most part, a
datacenter in Chicago is just as good as one in, say, Dallas or Seattle. This
means that the only thing this bill would actually succeed in doing is driving
internet-related business (both individual online businesses, as well as the
infrastructure that supports them, ie, webhosting companies and datacenters)
out of the state.

Good job representing our interests there, Ira.

More importantly, though, this is plainly unconstitutional. It's absolutely
embarrassing that any elected representative of US citizens would suggest that
there should be a host of state-defined rules that must be met before one is
allowed to exercise their first amendment right to free speech.

Just for funsies, here's what SCOTUS thought of anonymous speech in McIntyre
V. Ohio Elections Commission:

'Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing
dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical minority
views... Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.... It thus
exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights and of the First Amendment
in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation... at the
hand of an intolerant society.'"

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tptacek
Much as state senator Ira Silverstein would like to use his weirdly
gerrymandered little slice of Chicago as a platform from which to repeal the
First Amendment, I don't think we have to worry much that'll be successful
doing so.

~~~
steve-howard
Illinois Senate District 8 actually doesn't look all that weird:

[http://www.elections.il.gov/Downloads/VotingInformation/PDF/...](http://www.elections.il.gov/Downloads/VotingInformation/PDF/2011Districts/2011SenDist8.pdf)

At least it doesn't in comparison to the Congressional districts like, say
District 4:

[http://www.elections.il.gov/Downloads/VotingInformation/PDF/...](http://www.elections.il.gov/Downloads/VotingInformation/PDF/2011Districts/2011CongDist4.pdf)

That narrow bit on the far west is just I-294. No residences.

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lutusp
A quote: "Creates the Internet Posting Removal Act. Provides that a web site
administrator shall, upon request, remove any posted comments posted by an
anonymous poster unless the anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name
to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name, and home
address are accurate."

This has all sorts of constitutional-law and privacy ramifications. Anonymous
public comment has a long history in political debate, and a law such as the
link describes is a likely candidate for legal challenge.

This is not to argue tat anonymous comment isn't controversial -- it is -- but
it's not a simple issue by any means.

Most of those who propose measures to limit anonymous comment try to clearly
define the scope of their intentions -- for example, it might only apply to
misstatements of fact, or potentially libelous remarks. This one simply makes
it a requirement that comments be removed on request -- and it doesn't
describe the standing of the requester or the basis of the request. I can hear
the lawyers now -- "Your honor, this statute is overly broad and ambiguous."

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crisnoble
Full Text of the Bill:

<http://legiscan.com/IL/text/SB1614>

Choice quotes:

"Anonymous poster" means any individual who posts a message on a web site
including social networks, blogs, forums, message boards, or any other
discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted
messages.

"Web site administrator" means any person or entity that is responsible for
maintaining a web site or managing the content or development of information
provided on a web site including social networks, blogs, forums, message
boards, or any other discussion site where people can hold conversations in
the form of posted messages accessible via a network such as the Internet or a
private local area network.

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drcube
Anonymous speech must be stopped! Because we all know how our country was
almost ruined by those pseudonymous bastards, Ms. Silence Dogood and Poor
Richard Saunders[1].

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_franklin>

~~~
Turing_Machine
Not to mention Publius:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Federalist_Papers>

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waterlesscloud
Perhaps the text of bills should carry the names of the individuals who
actually wrote them as well.

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nonamegiven
"Upon request."

By anyone, it seems to read. Even by an anonymous requester.

Now anyone can be a censor.

~~~
alixaxel
That's a striking point right there. Perhaps it would be nice if in order to
request a takedown you had to provide your own personal credentials. That
would bring some fairness to the game.

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jrockway
In case you're wondering why this bill is unconstitutional, the EFF provides a
good summary of the underlying issues and how the Supreme Court has ruled in
the past:

<https://www.eff.org/issues/anonymity>

You'd think legislators would have read the Constitution before taking office,
but yeah, I know I'm asking too much...

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cynwoody
In other news, it's being reported[1] that State Farm Insurance, headquartered
in Bloomington, IL and employing lots of people in southern Illinois, has
acquired several million feet of office space in Dallas.

I would say the Illinois legislature needs to fix their credit rating (lowest
in the nation) before they try to outlaw internet nastygrams. They are equally
as stupid and more evil than their neighbors in Indiana were in 1897, when
they decided the value of PI was 3.2[2].

How is it dummies manage to land in legislatures, especially state
legislatures, so often?

[1][http://activerain.com/blogsview/3622523/dallas-s-largest-
off...](http://activerain.com/blogsview/3622523/dallas-s-largest-office-leas-
ever)
[2][http://www.agecon.purdue.edu/crd/localgov/second%20level%20p...](http://www.agecon.purdue.edu/crd/localgov/second%20level%20pages/indiana_pi_bill.htm)

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davidroberts
The Founding Fathers commented anonymously!

[http://www.carolinajournal.com/articles/display_story.html?i...](http://www.carolinajournal.com/articles/display_story.html?id=3573)

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charonn0
I've lost track of the number proposed Internet laws that were obviously
written by legislators lacking even a working understanding of what the
Internet is or how it works.

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binaryorganic
The full text of the bill makes clear that this should apply to private
networks as well:

"...via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network."

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kposehn
My guess is that the Senator got tired of people posting critical comments of
him anonymously.

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bsimpson
Aaand, I have one less reason to ever start a company in Illinois.

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adam-f
Yeah, 84.38.212.89 (or whatever coffee shop I'm posting from) is my correct IP
address. I guarantee it. o_O

