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To: dirtboy
So if this legislation passes and Corbett signs it, will PA Freepers no long be able to use screen names instead of their real names?

I'm not seeing anything in that article that would point to that. Looks like its intent is to go after people setting up fake accounts to impersonate others and destroy their reputations...this likely is already a tort but apparently they want to make this also subject to criminal penalties.

That said...this kind of a law would have to be fine tuned...VERY fine tuned...to avoid a slippery slope issue of internet intrusion beyond the scope of the stated intent of this bill...might be best to just leave this a tort and allow for civil penalties.

8 posted on 09/22/2012 8:57:42 AM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: Republican Wildcat

My guess is that there would have to be some kind of crime “at the end of the day” in any of these cases. This is why the Stolen Valor Act was (rightfully) overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, by the way. Impersonating someone just for the sake of impersonating them can’t be criminalized and can’t really even be subject to legal action in civil court, but if the impersonator somehow uses the act of impersonation to do harm to others or defraud them in any way, then it would be subject to criminal prosecution or civil liability under existing statutes related to fraud or other torts.


36 posted on 09/22/2012 10:28:30 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested.")
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To: Republican Wildcat

Pennsylvania is incapable of fine-tuning anything.

I know...I live there.


39 posted on 09/22/2012 12:12:54 PM PDT by Emperor Palpatine ("On the ascent of Olympus, what's a botched bar or two?" -Artur Schnabel)
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To: Republican Wildcat

PS...

Corbett is a fascist who thinks entrapment is a good way to enforce the law.


40 posted on 09/22/2012 12:14:08 PM PDT by Emperor Palpatine ("On the ascent of Olympus, what's a botched bar or two?" -Artur Schnabel)
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