Cyberbullying laws won't save your children
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Is it better or worse to bully someone if you're using the Internet?
Worse apparently, according to lawmakers on the most recent “Won’t somebody please think of the children?!” crusade in vogue. I, personally, would rather be bullied online, because it's super-duper hard for anyone to IM you a purple nurple.
Being harassed by anonymous jerks online, however does not call for its own legislation. The latest attempt to outlaw in the intrinsic ugliness of the Internet, with all its "sexting" and "cyberbullying," is the recently reintroduced H.R. 1966 Act, which proposes felony charges in language so vague, free speech advocates are positively apoplectic.
Amorphous language that endangers our free speech is probably just the thing that will continue to hang up H.R. 1966. But the fuss about a special law for the InterWebs sheds light on the broader issue that the lawmakers are confusing their principles with the medium. Outlawing cyberbullying is like outlawing bullying in a Southern accent. No one’s pro bullies in any dialect, but you can’t help wonder if someone’s missing the point.
Worse apparently, according to lawmakers on the most recent “Won’t somebody please think of the children?!” crusade in vogue. I, personally, would rather be bullied online, because it's super-duper hard for anyone to IM you a purple nurple.
Being harassed by anonymous jerks online, however does not call for its own legislation. The latest attempt to outlaw in the intrinsic ugliness of the Internet, with all its "sexting" and "cyberbullying," is the recently reintroduced H.R. 1966 Act, which proposes felony charges in language so vague, free speech advocates are positively apoplectic.
Amorphous language that endangers our free speech is probably just the thing that will continue to hang up H.R. 1966. But the fuss about a special law for the InterWebs sheds light on the broader issue that the lawmakers are confusing their principles with the medium. Outlawing cyberbullying is like outlawing bullying in a Southern accent. No one’s pro bullies in any dialect, but you can’t help wonder if someone’s missing the point.
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