Posted on 03/18/2017 9:59:45 AM PDT by John Semmens
New York State Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Hollis) State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens) have introduced legislation that would empower the state government to order the erasure of Internet content that is "inaccurate, irrelevant, inadequate, or excessive."
"The way it is now is that any government official can be accused of corruption by anyone who has access to the Internet," Weprin complained. "Once the accusation is posted it essentially lives forever on the web. This can unfairly taint a person's reputation. Our bill says that unless an official government investigation and prosecution is undertaken the accusatory content can be ordered removed under threat of a $250 per day fine for everyday it remains undeleted."
Co-sponsor Avella admitted "I had been very pessimistic about our ability to control the narrative on what can and can't be posted about public officials. It seems to me that outsiders have too much power to embarrass those of us who serve. Then David told me about something he read in a book where unsanctioned material was regularly removed from the public domain and consigned to what was called a 'memory hole.' I thought, this is exactly what we need to defend ourselves from ungrateful citizens."
Both sponsors acknowledged the possibility that the legislation could have a "chilling effect" on public debate, but asserted that "in our opinion, public debate is already overheated by the intrusion of unqualified participants into the mix. Our bill would not impede genuine journalists, government officials, and elected representatives from expressing themselves. It would clear away the debris left by uninformed amateurs."
if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at...
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php?topic=254524.0
” This can unfairly taint a person’s reputation”. Or,maybe fairly taint one that would otherwise squeeze by unnoticed.
” This can unfairly taint a person’s reputation”. Or,maybe fairly taint one that would otherwise squeeze by unnoticed. It seems the purpose of this is to let the bad guys get by a little easier.
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