added: isn't it really a free speech/1st Amendment issue in the end?
Here's what the government is doing as far as I can see: (a) creating an offense with such broad parameters that it potentially includes nearly 100% of the target population -- i.e, anyone who has ever written anything in reference to anything else on the internet; (b) leaving the means of establishing that you are not an offender so vague that no one could possibly know for certain whether or not they are complying with the new law; (c) enforcing the law capriciously, with the express purpose of "educating the public" through selective harassment of individuals.
Sounds like an inevitable chilling effect to me. Can this "stand," as they say?
Posted by Dr. Frank at October 6, 2009 04:41 PM | TrackBackGovernment and the business community are losers when the public can communicate so openly.
I have been waiting for something like this for years.
We shall see if the Courts have the guts to stop it.
Posted by: Lexington Green at October 6, 2009 09:17 PMThe other thing that scares the crap out of me about this legislation is the potential for IRS issues/involvement. For example, if a blogger complies with the law and declares "compensation," whats to stop the IRS from digging further and investigating whether or not that blogger declared the compensation as income on his/her tax returns??? This law is another license for unmitigated government harrassment.
Posted by: Trey at October 7, 2009 10:03 PM