Mike is more connected than the mob - 2cpu.com
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Oregon considers but rejects criminalising tweets
PACIFIC NORTHWEST STATE Oregon has flirted with but rejected an attempt to criminalise the use of Twitter.
A bill in the state legislature to criminalise messages sent over the micro-social networking application was set aside after alarmed opponents spoke up and a little common sense was applied.
The proposed state senate bill 1534 would have would have made "use of electronic communication to solicit two or more persons to commit [a] specific crime at [a] specific time and location" a felony, according to the Oregonian web site.
The bill was written to crack down on so-called flash mob crimes where people spread a message through Twitter about a location that they want to attack or steal from, which someone must have worried about in Oregon. The potential sentence upon conviction proposed was up to five years in prison and a $125,000 fine.
"I would expect a law like this in Myanmar, Turkmenistan, North Korea or Zimbabwe," said Dan Meek, a Portland attorney who testified against the bill.
News of the bill spread across Twitter, naturally, and gathered a lot of opposition. Activists posted the names of those that were backing it to the popular document sharing site Pastebin, along with their contact details including phone numbers.
"Let the bill's sponsors know how you feel!" said the poster.
Cooler heads soon prevailed, and the bill died in committee. "It's dead," said Senator Floyd Prozanski, the chairman of the Oregon state senate judiciary committee. µ
Tags: Internet
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@Morely (the lesser IT Guy)
If you really believe that REPs *HATE* the US Constitution but DEMs *LUV* it and are the only roadblock to a total Fascist state, I have a bank account in Africa I need you to help me unlock by sending me $10K US.
Your problem is your definition of FAIRness - gimme everything everyone else has, without me having to EARN any of it. You somehow twist the Constitution to mean that you are entitled to the fruits of everyone else's labors. The Constitution guarantees the OPPORTUNITY. You should really try reading the document some time rather than letting some politician from any party tell you what it means.
Shouldn't the conspiracy laws already cover any kind communication to commit a crime. Yeah, it's really about protests.
I am an Oregonian. The purpose of senate bill 1534 was to suppress the "Occupy Portland" movement. The Republican Party sees any organization that agitates for equality and fairness as a threat to the GOP's attempt to institute Fascism in America, and thus if they can criminalize any form of speech (which, of course, is a necessity to gather a group of people in one place), they will try to do so.
Republicans *HATE* the US Constitution, and senate bill 1534 was yet another demonstration of that fact.