That would be a piece of cake, especially if this site uses Apache.
Posted on 05/09/2005 5:54:33 AM PDT by Lazamataz
There is an internet vandal who defaces Free Republic with very gross pictures (homosexual sex and stuff from rotton.com) as well as posting "ALL YOU F***** N*****S & JEWS SHOULD BE LYNCHED".
He pings a variety of people to his post, ensuring that the trash is still in their My Posts lists.
To me, this isn't the milder form of harassment that Eschoir engaged in so many years ago. The very worst he would do is ask if you ever committed sodomy, and he once used the screen name "Paula Jones Tw*t". This is mild.
What this sick piece of work is doing is much more egregious. I believe it crosses the line into criminal defacement and restraint of trade. Are there any Free Republic lawyers (especially prosecutors) who can address this issue, and are there any private detectives with internet savvy that will help track the identity of this person down?
That is not what he used however, he has his own system that does the same thing where every click, as he says, sends out a new IP from the last.
Well, heck, appoint me then. If nominated, I will run, and if elected, I will serve. ;^)
I don't know if IP tracking blocking is the easy way to do this. If a person has a legit reason to be on FR he would be posting from probably no more than three traceable, static IP addresses. These could be individually confirmed as not being proxies at the time the person signs up or requests another IP to post from. This would give the admins time to check approve or deny the IP/poster. If it wouldn't be too much the admins could talk with someone signing up via their sign up e-mail, I would guess that alone would stop some disrupters.
Dear mhking,
"Harassment would probably be a civil action, but I'm sure he could get nailed on federal hate speech/crime statutes."
Although there are hate crime statutes, from what I know, these merely amount to aggravating circumstances of an underlying crime. Thus, if one kills someone and the motive is racial hatred, then the "hate crime" attaches to the underlying crime of murder.
I'm unaware of any pure "hate speech" statutes. Remember, they let the Nazis march in Skokie. They just had to follow the rules set forth by the community. And I think that's jude24's point. The disruptor didn't "break in" to FR, but rather, gained access the way everyone else does - he registered.
He engaged in posting, which is a permitted activity. When the moderators of the site determined his postings violated the rules of the forum, he was required to leave the forum. So far, he has not re-entered in an unauthorized way, at least of which I'm aware.
It may be possible to get a restraining order forbidding him to re-register and post, and possibly a violation thereto might attach some criminal liability. But if the registration system doesn't keep him out, then I'm still trying to figure out exactly what would be the basis for criminal prosecution.
sitetest
When that is combined with the "infiltration" from posters on StormFront (there are some there who have specifically stated their intent to disrupt at FR), lends credence to a goal of going after specific people.
Keep it simple. The fellow posted obscenity and intended to elicit an emotional response. That is the offense.
As I and others have pointed out the problem with civil litigation is that FR is not a profit-making concern; if JR was charging $10 a registration or something then you could at least begin to entertain it.
Did you read my earlier post about this not being an adult website and that children do frequent here? Offering or supplying pornography to minors, if not mistaken is a federal crime at least I know it is a state crime. Now, if this guy is out of country that would be differant.
Ditto.
Well, define successful. If the kid or his parents are forced to spend thousands on an attorney, to me, that is some measure of success.
Okay ... Check out this link and see what you think.
Just scroll down to James54.
Post 39 was removed. That **** should never be on this site.
That would be a piece of cake, especially if this site uses Apache.
Agreed. I hardly see where "ALL YOU F***** N*****S & JEWS SHOULD BE LYNCHED" qualifies as protected political speech. It is harrassment and a threat of physical harm.
Cool, this would help deny the 'random IP generator' that Final Authority described.
If you right click and view "properties," you sometimes can see where the image is being stored. I didn't think of it until after the fact. I was in a state of shock.
Just wondering...when you say everyone has them in their cache, did you have to be pinged for that to happen, or do you have them just because you logged on to FR? And do you have to have opened that particular thread?
Granted. However, it is non-profit corporation, whose stated "business" purpose is spelled out in its Articles of Incorporation, and the Rules of the forum. Just because it is non-profit, and not expressly involved in commercial trade, it is still an entity whose overhead is substantial, and requires mass popularity to succeed at sustaining itself. Intentional harassments with the kind of posts alluded to are for the express purpose of damaging the corporate entity, through alienation and disaffection of its "membership".
That being said, I also unfortunately have to agree with you and doubt the likelihood of prevailing. And it certainly would not be cheap.
Then let us make it so.
Proving the requisite mental state would be a pain in the butt. Do we ever explicitly say, "This is a family site"?
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