NJ to force forums to collect full legal names and addresses of posters

[Bob Hubbard]

Found this. Put simply, you folks in NJ who wanna keep posting as "pookiesnaps" better write your representative and encourage them to vote against this.

Interestingly enough, this proposed law is reported to be a violation of this:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode47/usc_sec_47_00000230----000-.html
Specifically, "No cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section."



From Slashdot:
"The New Jersey legislature is considering a bill that would require operators of public forums to collect users' legal names and addresses, and effectively disallow anonymous speech on online forums. This raises some serious issues, such as to what extent local and state governments can go in enacting and enforcing Internet legislation."

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ASSEMBLY, No. 1327 STATE OF NEW JERSEY
212th LEGISLATURE

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2006 SESSION

[FONT=&quot]
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Sponsored by:
Assemblyman PETER J. BIONDI
District 16 (Morris and Somerset)




SYNOPSIS
Makes certain operators of interactive computer services and Internet service providers liable to persons injured by false or defamatory messages posted on public forum websites.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.


[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT] An Act concerning the posting of certain Internet messages and supplementing chapter 38A of Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. As used in this act:
"Information content provider" means any person or entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of information provided through the Internet or any other interactive computer service.
"Interactive computer service" means any information system, service, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides service to the Internet.
"Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and non-federal interoperable packet switched data networks.
"Internet service provider" or "provider" means any person, business or organization qualified to do business in this State that provides individuals, corporations, or other entities with the ability to connect to the Internet through equipment that is located in this State.
"Operator" means any person, business or organization qualified to do business in this State that operates an interactive computer service.

2. The operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider shall establish, maintain and enforce a policy to require any information content provider who posts written messages on a public forum website either to be identified by a legal name and address, or to register a legal name and address with the operator of the interactive computer service or the Internet service provider through which the information content provider gains access to the interactive computer service or Internet, as appropriate.

3. An operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider shall establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.

4. Any person who is damaged by false or defamatory written messages that originate from an information content provider who posts such messages on a public forum website may file suit in Superior Court against an operator or provider that fails to establish, maintain and enforce the policy required pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (C.) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and may recover compensatory and punitive damages and the cost of the suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee, cost of investigation and litigation from such operator or provider.

5. This act shall take effect on the 90th day following enactment.

STATEMENT​

This bill would require an operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish, maintain and enforce a policy requiring an information content provider who posts messages on a public forum website either to be identified by legal name and address or to register a legal name and address with the operator or provider prior to posting messages on a public forum website.
The bill requires an operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.
In addition, the bill makes any operator or Internet service provider liable for compensatory and punitive damages as well as costs of a law suit filed by a person damaged by the posting of such messages if the operator or Internet service provider fails to establish, maintain and enforce the policy required by section 2 of the bill.

 

[Jonathan Randall]

I read about this and it is frightening. What business do they have here? Law Enforcement doesn't need a full name - they can get you via IP addresses and other such "technical" stuff. Criminals won't use full names anyway. Also, this will mean that all minors, particularly females, will be excluded from the NET because I offered my young niece a computer on the condition that she not use it to surf the net using personal information including LAST NAME and ADDRESS, and I am sure other adults have done the same with their kids/relatives/minor friends, etc.. This is ridiculous!

After being harassed for over a year by a looney who didn't agree with a post I made on a current events forum, I stopped offering my own last name. MT Admin's and Mods have access to it, but I don't throw it out anymore. Yes, my first name is Jonathan and Randall is my middle. My last isn't posted.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I am anticipating some solid legal challenges if this passes, as well as a serious blow to NJ's IT industry. There are several large datacenters in NJ, one of which I use. If this is passed, I will be removing my servers from that state and relocating them elsewhere. I'm not the only one.

 

[MA-Caver]

Well, they're just going to pick it up in other states as well.
Little by little bit by bit we are losing what we hold most dear. Soon Freedom Of Speech will be banned because it encites riots and dissention against the government which is unpatriotic and so on.

Geez, to want to know folks because they are potential terrorist is one thing... I am a born American and will die for my country willingly. But I'll be damned if I'm going to prove it by allowing my freedoms to be taken away little by little by the same leaders who swore to uphold and defend the Consititution of these United States. I don't recall anything about their oaths saying they're allowed to change it as they see fit to their personal agendas.

 

[Makalakumu]

The poster above was right when he stated that criminals are going to give their real names anyway. Which begs the question...what is the real point of this bill. The government wants to monitor what people are saying (and who is saying it) over the internet.

 

[Andrew Green]

After being harassed for over a year by a looney who didn't agree with a post I made on a current events forum, I stopped offering my own last name. MT

Only a year? Guess you got to work on that, I bet you can get the next one up to at least 2-years if you work at it

 

[Flatlander]

Well, it's asking forum owners to do one thing that we currently aren't - provide posters' information to other forum members upon their request, as opposed to providing that information to police directly at their request. I don't understand why they would have gone that far with the bill - why is simply complying with a court order or with a police request not sufficient?

I don't see the intent of the bill as being to monitor what people are saying over the internet. It's not forcing forum owners to publicly post the names of users, merely to provide the info to users when someone "posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website."

 

[Bob Hubbard]

If they could tell me how to actually verify this, for free, I might be more behind it. But, the "How" is left to us forum owners, and it's our asses when someone lies, not theirs.

Now, here's the confusing part.
MT is hosted in Texas.
I do business in NJ, and have some servers there.
Do I now have to collect and verify ID on MT?
Doesn't really seem to say.
If MT sells a sponsorship or an SM to someone in NJ, are we now required to collect ID from everyone, or just NJ residents?
Etc.

I'm all for more security and safety, but maybe these politicians should actually use a few of the things they are fighting against.

How am I supposed to, as a private citizen, verify someone's ID is legit? If I call my local police will they give me the information, or tell me they can't because of privacy laws? Or DHS mandates? etc.

So, I am now required to collect, and verify, something that I am not allowed to verify.
Uh......Right.

 

[mrhnau]

How am I supposed to, as a private citizen, verify someone's ID is legit? If I call my local police will they give me the information, or tell me they can't because of privacy laws? Or DHS mandates? etc.

It will start getting fun when having to deal with international people. You need to verify some guy from another country is legit? You will need to become proficient in all forms of ID, or assume other countries are doing their job of IDing correctly. I assume they are doing this to keep tabs on certain "bad" posters. How about those that steal internet service? I could easily get my neighbors wireless. I've known alot of people to use ID's of family or friends unbeknownst to them. How would that play out?

No matter how you figure it, its going to be a huge logistical pain in the rump.

 

[Flatlander]

How am I supposed to, as a private citizen, verify someone's ID is legit?

The language of the bill doesn't seem to address the responsibility of the operator to verify anything, merely to have reasonable processes in place to collect users' information. So, perhaps they're not asking you to do anything more than you currently are.

 

[Bigshadow]

SYNOPSIS
Makes certain operators of interactive computer services and Internet service providers liable to persons injured by false or defamatory messages posted on public forum websites.

That is as silly as holding gun manufacturers liable because a murderer (criminal) nutjob decides to go on a killing spree using a gun.

 

[Carol]

3. An operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider shall establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.

Libel and defamation are against the law, but I thought such things are decided by courts, not individuals?

4. Any person who is damaged by false or defamatory written messages that originate from an information content provider who posts such messages on a public forum website may file suit in Superior Court against an operator or provider that fails to establish, maintain and enforce the policy required pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (C.) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and may recover compensatory and punitive damages and the cost of the suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee, cost of investigation and litigation from such operator or provider.

Superior Court. That sounds expensive.

So, what this ultimately does is open up a source of revenue for trial lawyers. This law essentially facilitates a way of getting money out of the forum hosts, when the issue ends up in court. Maybe I'm from Mars, but that's how I'm reading it.