can't prosecute Wrote:
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> eesh is ok. The Supreme Court ruled that internet
> harassment can't be prosecuted. Facebook or FFXU
> all falls under the same ruling. eesh was born
> under a lucky star.
Ehhh, not exactly. SCOTUS ruled today that a troll gets a re-trial over a technicality, where he'll then be swiftly convicted correctly.
"Elonis claimed that for a jury to conclude that his statements were threats, prosecutors had to prove that he intended them as threats — that they had to show he wasn’t joking or writing fanfic or otherwise screwing with his audience.
The court rejected that argument. Flatly.
This is the first victory in the opinion, and it’s a big one. The court said that a threat counts as a threat under federal law not only if it’s intended as a threat, but also if the writer knows it will be interpreted that way:
'There is no dispute that the mental state requirement in Section 875(c) is satisfied if the defendant transmits a communication for the purpose of issuing a threat, or with knowledge that the communication will be viewed as a threat.'
Note that “there is no dispute” language. If you make a threat online, and you know the person who receives it will see it as a threat, you’re guilty of violating federal law. It doesn’t matter if you claim that it’s protected speech, or put a smiley face at the end, or point out later that the threat was really just lyrics from an old Beatles song. If you send a threat and you know it’ll be interpreted as a threat, you’re guilty. Period."
http://studentactivism.net/2015/06/01/why-todays-elonis-decision-is-a-victory-in-the-fight-against-online-harassment/