Megan Meier Law vs. Free Speech
In light of votes where Representatives and Senators obviously had not read the bill, I wonder how many have read the Constitution. That should be a requirement before he or she takes the oath of office. How can he or she solemnly swear to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic if the document was never read? Besides, it appears that some of the biggest enemies to the Constitution are sitting on Capitol Hill.
A new bill being considered is HR 1966, the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act. If this bill becomes law, it would allow for criminal penalties against anyone that transmits using interstate or foreign commerce something that is deemed coercive, harassing, intimidating, or a message designed to cause emotional distress to another person.
The bill is named after Megan Taylor Meier, the 13 year old girl that hanged herself after being cyberbullied by the mother of a classmate through the popular Internet social networking site, Myspace. Lori Drew, the mother of the classmate, created a fake account in an effort to gain information about Megan so it could be used to humiliate her. This was done as retribution for Megan allegedly spreading gossip about Lori’s daughter.
The knee jerk reaction from hearing the story might cause someone to say, “there ought to be a law…” Unfortunately, this bill, if passed, will not bring Megan Meier back. It does run the chance of spreading past this one incident to limit the free speech of nearly everyone.
The first sentence of Amendment I to the U.S Constitution begins, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…” This bill, if it becomes law, will greatly abridge the freedom of speech. If a recipient finds an e-mail that you sent to them to be offensive or hostile, they would have a case. If a politician fell into the cross hairs of SWGA Politics, they too would have a case. The bill reaches beyond private e-mails and the blogosphere. Because it regulates anyone that transmits a communication using an electronic means. Talk radio could also fall under the bill.
This bill reminds me of my elementary school days when one student would misbehave and the entire class was punished. Lori Drew has had her day in court. Because this adult couldn’t conduct herself as such, our free speech rights may be in jeopardy.
Congress, please read the Constitution before you draft or vote for a bill that is in direct violation of our Bill of Rights.
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July 10th, 2009 at 11:29 am
There’s a good chance if passed this would fail Constitutional muster as did the Domestic Violence Against Women Act. Although the fact that the case was based on the internet it may be more convincingly interstate that the DVAW law.
Having said all that. It’s a bad law.
.-= griftdrift´s last blog ..The Morning Line – Republicans =-.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
To many times, when something happens, the phrase “there ought to be a law” gets thrown around. That’s how we ended up with so many of our unconstitutional measures, it was because enough people forgot about the Constitution and said “there ought to be a law”. Unfortunately, there shouldn’t be a law. There should be responsibility. The parents of the deceased girl should file a lawsuit and seek civil damages. It won’t bring their daughter back, but it will push the issue on adults being responsible.
In addition, the term “coercive” could also target such benign activities as advertising, which really is just trying to coerce you into buying something, to go along with the other possibilities.