dancindan84: R.A.Danny: heavymetal: Proxy server.

Then they will start requiring registration with an email address.

You can get an email address pretty easily, and can use a proxy + fake name. Plus that forces another subpoena to the email host which just complicates things further especially if it's hosted in another jurisdiction. If we're talking about someone who's creating an account just to libel/troll, it's really not that much work on their end and royally mucks things up for the authorities.

People like to brag and eventually fark up. Also to make a liable stick it has to have some plausibility to it. To do that effectively you have to know something about the victim, how they tick, what their real vices, fears and are.

The victim will have a pretty good idea who might have that kind of information on them and who is motivated enough doing this kind of attack.

/obligatory



ne2d: I was just talking to someone the other day about how this was going to be the next big area in First Amendment law. If you think 4chan and YouTube are full of nasty and idiotic comments, go take a look at the comment threads on your local newspaper's site. Especially if it's in a small town, people can anonymously do actual harm to a person's reputation or business.

Which is why I'm against the CPSC's online complaint list. Like I said in that thread, retards will call 911 because their pizza is 3 minutes late, I'm sure the integrity of that list will be stellar.

Guidette Frankentits: Which is why I'm against the CPSC's online complaint list. Like I said in that thread, retards will call 911 because their pizza is 3 minutes late, I'm sure the integrity of that list will be stellar.

But I'm against releasing the names of anonymous posters on a web forum.

/clarifying that

Guidette Frankentits: /obligatory



ne2d: I was just talking to someone the other day about how this was going to be the next big area in First Amendment law. If you think 4chan and YouTube are full of nasty and idiotic comments, go take a look at the comment threads on your local newspaper's site. Especially if it's in a small town, people can anonymously do actual harm to a person's reputation or business.

Which is why I'm against the CPSC's online complaint list. Like I said in that thread, retards will call 911 because their pizza is 3 minutes late, I'm sure the integrity of that list will be stellar.

Which is why anonymous complaints are worthless.

If you complain sign your name and give the company time to respond.

dancindan84: R.A.Danny: heavymetal: Proxy server.

Then they will start requiring registration with an email address.

You can get an email address pretty easily, and can use a proxy + fake name. Plus that forces another subpoena to the email host which just complicates things further especially if it's hosted in another jurisdiction. If we're talking about someone who's creating an account just to libel/troll, it's really not that much work on their end and royally mucks things up for the authorities.

Farking junk email addresses, how do they work?

The good news is that the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 today to allow you to be a total dickbag in public!

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/02/scotus.westboro.church/index.html?hpt=T1&iref= B N1#

What about the possibility of abuse? What's to keep me from registering an account in the name of a random rich person and bashing myself;then suing whomever?

Its not like the little registration boxes check ID.

So is the local bar liable for the stuff about your mom written on the men's room wall?

Seriously, say somebody wrote something like "Joe Politician had gay sex in this bathroom stall" on the wall of a restroom in a bar. Is the bar liable for the statement?

Say Joe Politician complained to the bar owner and the bar owner painted over it. Is that not the same as a moderated online forum?

/There is a reason IANAL

unlikely: swahnhennessy: namegoeshere: swahnhennessy: If you can't stand behind what you say, don't say it.

So you'll be signing your posts with your full name, address, and phone number from now on?

Only if you wear a mask and use a fake name when you're out on the street.

So you'll be sending me your name and address then.
/Often wear a mask
//Always use a nickname that has no bearing on my real name

Jeffrey Miller, former chief executive of Junior Achievement of Central Indiana, sounds like a real loser to me.

Jeffrey Miller is a cock smoking, douche bag, whose breath smells like carpet cleaner and ass smells like insecticide.

/don't ask how I know
//this is how I will end all posts from now on
///this is sarcasm not to be taken seriously

fark it dude. let's go no more trolling.

BurnShrike: I was going to post how much of a douche the guy is.

After reading the article, I think I'll abstain.

ooops guess I should RTFA

That judge is a real shiatcock.

My name is Mike Hunt and I comment on all the articles.

I am proud of my opinion and stand behind my name.

You can probe my comments to great depths until exhaustion leads you to realize they are sound.

I leave myself wide open to inspection.

ne2d: Especially if it's in a small town, people can anonymously do actual harm to a person's reputation or business

Some do not require registration.
wcax, for ex.

So we'll go no more a-trolling
so late into the night
Though the lefties still be biting
and the pixels still as bright

For the trolling's always funnest
When you advocate what stinks
Calling Fox or Boehner honest
Or send Final Countdown links

Though the night is for TMLO'in⁽¹⁾
And the day returns too soon
Yet we'll go no more a trollin'
By the light of the LCD monitor

(a little paraprosdokian for the rhyme end so that you don't get too complacent)

⁽¹⁾pronounced tum-LOW-in... thus it fits the meter just fine, tyvm

I guess Tom Brady won't be posting on the indy star sport section forums anymore.

unlikely: swahnhennessy: namegoeshere: swahnhennessy: If you can't stand behind what you say, don't say it.

So you'll be signing your posts with your full name, address, and phone number from now on?

Only if you wear a mask and use a fake name when you're out on the street.

So you'll be sending me your name and address then.
/Often wear a mask
//Always use a nickname that has no bearing on my real name

That mask won't help you much with me buddy. Incoming lawsuit in 3..2..1..

The biggest thing is what this defamation lawsuit is about. This lawyer is being anonymously accused of "misappropriating funds" which cost him a job. While I think that it is horrible that anonymity is being taken away, this is a lot more than people disagreeing it is people accusing him of a felony that hurts his livelihood.

http://www.ibj.com/retired-junior-achievement-exec-files-defamation-suit/PARAMS / article/19022

madgonad: I have no problem with this.

Nowhere in the Constitution is there a right to anonymity. In fact, general journalistic standards make unsigned work highly limited, and when it is published it is thoroughly vetted to make sure all statements of fact are accurate.

Sorry, but posting lies and falsehoods with the intent to defame or damage is still libel in this country - even if it is done online.

It's unfortunate then, that modern media outlets don't subscribe to "general journalistic standards."

So, computer nerds out there, they can't actually get a name from this, can they? I thought my IP changed all the time or something. Static IP/dynamic IP? Something about that? What's a proxy server? Doesn't that have something to do with this?

Also, when exactly did we set the Bill of Rights on fire? I mean, the thing has it's problems, but aren't we all still agreeing that we're working with that thing?

Good thing I'm anonymous. Nobody could ever figure out who I really am when I'm hiding behind this nym here on Fark.

Go ahead, judge -- take your best shot.

Andrew Wiggin: basemetal: I guess when I criticize people on the internet, I'll just start with, In MY Opinion......

or 'allegedly'?

i allegedly banged subby's mom last night

you are allegedly an asshat

i guess that works

I'm going to to with the Foxier "some say".

dlewis6: So, computer nerds out there, they can't actually get a name from this, can they? I thought my IP changed all the time or something.

Your IP address changes each time you connect to the internet. Your ISP has a record of what customer has what IP at a time though. That's why they subpoenaed the ISP.


What's a proxy server? Doesn't that have something to do with this?

A proxy is someone/thing that acts on your behalf. By directing your traffic through an anonymous proxy, the traffic doesn't come directly from you; it comes from the proxy server instead (which is then passed on to you). Unless they can get records from the proxy server, there is no way to identify who made the posts.

No problem, I'll just route my connection through InterNIC and delete the logs.

hmm... how well would a legal defense like this go?

lawyer: We caught you making libelous comments by getting your IP address from the website where you posted them.
random person: What comments?
lawyer: /quotes some libelous comment
random person: Well, there are several people that live in this house who share the same computer, I leave my wireless open to the world, and left my laptop outside for the last few months. I saw some homeless guy typing on it the other day, maybe you should look for him. Also, I don't even agree with that statement now that I know whoever made it will be charged tons of money for it.
lawyer: aww crap, I forgot I can't *prove* beyond a reasonable doubt that *he* was the one in front of the keyboard typing this.

/granted you are paying for the link, but if someone steals your car and runs into a building with it, killing everyone inside, you can't be charged with murder now can you?

Gabrielmot: /granted you are paying for the link, but if someone steals your car and runs into a building with it, killing everyone inside, you can't be charged with murder now can you?

But you could be sued for some bogus wrongful death and probably lose.

Not sayin' I disagree with you, I just hate the system.

Gabrielmot: awyer: aww crap, I forgot I can't *prove* beyond a reasonable doubt that *he* was the one in front of the keyboard typing this.

Civil action the standard is preponderance of the evidence not beyond a reasonable doubt. Its a much lower standard.

I guess the adage "Consider the source" means nothing anymore. Since when do people take anonymous comments made on the internet seriously?

My right to be a sniveling coward and hide anonymously behind hateful comments without knowing what I'm talking about is still more important than your right to be spineless ninny who is permanently damaged by any unkind comment thrown in your direction.

satanorsanta: The biggest thing is what this defamation lawsuit is about. This lawyer is being anonymously accused of "misappropriating funds" which cost him a job. While I think that it is horrible that anonymity is being taken away, this is a lot more than people disagreeing it is people accusing him of a felony that hurts his livelihood."


// It's always a stupid few that screw it up for everyone else.
Look what happens when you provide low intelligence villagers with a keyboard, google and spell check.
When it comes to defamation like that, something -will- be done about it.

bighairyguy: Didn't that judge murder a hooker back in 1990?

I heard it was 1992.

Society is going to have to learn to deal with people hiding behind anonymity to exercise free speech. Some of that speech will be hateful and incendiary, and not protected under the precedents established by Schenck v. United States or Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire.

But even if the government tries to enforce public identities for internet users, Pandora's box has been opened. People will find a way to use the internet anonymously, whether it's WWW or a darknet, and there's no way for even the most autocratic regimes to repress this. All the decisions since 1919 that curtail the First Amendment, are functionally obsolete. On the one hand, it sucks, because real harm has been done to people by anonymous speech, but on the other hand, the people have a powerful tool for organization in defense of, and to promote, their civil rights.

unlikely: SearchN: unlikely: swahnhennessy: namegoeshere: swahnhennessy: If you can't stand behind what you say, don't say it.

So you'll be signing your posts with your full name, address, and phone number from now on?

Only if you wear a mask and use a fake name when you're out on the street.

So you'll be sending me your name and address then.
/Often wear a mask
//Always use a nickname that has no bearing on my real name

That mask won't help you much with me buddy. Incoming lawsuit in 3..2..1..

Don't I have to slander you first?
Don't I have to do something like remind everyone that SearchN rips the bands off of cheap gas station cigarillos and passes them off as cognac-infused Behikes to the tourists in his one-horse town?

If I ever see you its on.

/2 horse town you farkwad.
//Side note, do you know when 79th is going to open back up? Farkers took all the signs with dates out.

Handsome Jack Manitoba 2011-03-02 12:14:04 PM

Society is going to have to learn to deal with people hiding behind anonymity to exercise free speech. Some of that speech will be hateful and incendiary, and not protected under the precedents established by Schenck v. United States or Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire.

But even if the government tries to enforce public identities for internet users, Pandora's box has been opened. People will find a way to use the internet anonymously, whether it's WWW or a darknet, and there's no way for even the most autocratic regimes to repress this. All the decisions since 1919 that curtail the First Amendment, are functionally obsolete. On the one hand, it sucks, because real harm has been done to people by anonymous speech, but on the other hand, the people have a powerful tool for organization in defense of, and to promote, their civil rights.



Ridiculous. If an anonymous poster on a website does real harm to you the problem is in the mirror.
Sticks and stones.

Gabrielmot: hmm... how well would a legal defense like this go?

lawyer: We caught you making libelous comments by getting your IP address from the website where you posted them.
random person: What comments?
lawyer: /quotes some libelous comment
random person: Well, there are several people that live in this house who share the same computer, I leave my wireless open to the world, and left my laptop outside for the last few months. I saw some homeless guy typing on it the other day, maybe you should look for him. Also, I don't even agree with that statement now that I know whoever made it will be charged tons of money for it.
lawyer: aww crap, I forgot I can't *prove* beyond a reasonable doubt that *he* was the one in front of the keyboard typing this.
lawyer's second chair: psst, boss, we're in civil court, not criminal. It's just preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt. Also, if the defendant is claiming that someone else used his negligently maintained equipment, we can simply point out that he should be held liable and, if he wants to bring in that homeless guy as a third party defendant to indemnify him or pay as much of the judgement as he's able to, we won't mind.
random person: Aww, crap.

crazytrpr: ne2d: I was just talking to someone the other day about how this was going to be the next big area in First Amendment law. If you think 4chan and YouTube are full of nasty and idiotic comments, go take a look at the comment threads on your local newspaper's site. Especially if it's in a small town, people can anonymously do actual harm to a person's reputation or business.

THIS, to make matters worse the internet can make a city the size of New York seem like a small town. Reputation in small town is gold

People will say stuff anonymously that can be out right wrong or is a straight up lie. They should be outed and sued. I do not have the right call someone a child molester anonymously if it's false.

If its the truth, suing someone because its an inconvenient embarrassing truth just invites the Streissand Effect, so it the tops the stupid move list. Suing them is downing them a favor.

Maybe we should legalize dueling; Semi Automatic pistols at 30 paces 10 round each. It would make people think before they spout out shiat

I'm going to disagree.

Lying about someone should not be a crime in and of itself. For example, during the Thomas Jefferson-John Adams presidential elections, the campaigners for one side said that, should the other side win, "rape, incest, and murder would run rampant throughout the nation."

That's pretty inflammatory, yet was still perfectly legal, and likely done anonymously to a degree.

Anonymity is a great screen for posting things, true or false, and the common man should realize that anonymous things should be taken with a large grain of salt but ultimately should be legal.

/Agree that dueling should be legal too
//Why the hell not?