Keep Politicians Off the Internet

The politicians in New Jersey -- the Mafia's Arlington Cemetery -- have introduced a bill requiring people posting in public forums to give their real name and address. I can't remember a more moronic move on the part of lawmakers (except for the income tax). Here is what the bill would require.

This bill would require an operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish, maintain and enforce a policy requiring an information content provider who posts messages on a public forum website either to be identified by legal name and address or to register a legal name and address with the operator or provider prior to posting messages on a public forum website.

The bill requires an operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.

In addition, the bill makes any operator or Internet service provider liable for compensatory and punitive damages as well as costs of a law suit filed by a person damaged by the posting of such messages if the operator or Internet service provider fails to establish, maintain and enforce the policy required by section 2 of the bill.

I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again. A young lady once chastised me in an e-mail for posting "anonymously" on her friend's blog. I pointed out to her that my real name would mean nothing to her and that "Lone Ranger" gave her an insight into my character. And even if I were to post a name, how would she know if it were real? Then, I took her name from her e-mail and the fact that she once mentioned she was going to Yale and I found her phone number, address and a satellite picture of her house and e-mailed it to her. I pointed out that according to MapQuest, I could be on her doorstep in about three hours. I made my point about revealing too much information on the Internet, and in the process, scared the crap out of her. If this bill becomes law, Internet users in New Jersey might as well hang a sign on their door reading "Perverts Welcome. Come Hurt Me." We've all seen the hatred with which liberals regard people who disagree with them. I chalk up most of the hate talk to kids or to people with an undeveloped intellect. But I think there are enough true mental cases out there that sooner or later someone could be seriously hurt or killed.