It’s official, even if is is unconstitutional. As reported in CNET, it is now illegal to intentionally annoy someone using anonymous Internet-based communications. From Section 113 of the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act:
“Whoever…utilizes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet… without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person…who receives the communications…shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”
Rest assured that if anyone posts annoying but anoymous comments on my blog, I won’t press charges. And if anyone has a chance to speak to Arlen Spector, you might ask him why he wastes taxpayer money by passing laws that even Clarence Thomas would strike down in a heartbeat.
CLARIFICATION: The actual Sec.113 of the cited bill simply amends the Communications Act of 1934; the “quote” from CNET claims to represent the result of this amendment. The language about “annoying” and “identity” comes from the original bill, as (multiply) amended.
FURTHER CLARIFICATION: Discussions over at BoingBoing seem to suggest that the infamous DMCA already codified much of this, and that this new language is 100% redundant. (I don’t know which is more depressing….) Moreover quite a few lawyers say we’re misreading the statute (though others disagree). In any case, nobody seems particularly surprised by any of this nonsense, and that may be the saddest commentary of all.