Friday, February 6, 2009

Chilling

No true democracy has ever been threatened by the free flow of ideas and opinions. Why then, this?:

A newly introduced Internet Libel Act in the N.C. SenateSB 46 — would make it a potential civil and criminal (Class 2 misdemeanor) offense for libelous or slanderous material to originate in the state or be received or viewed in the state via the Internet. The bill, which has been referred to the Judiciary Committee, was filed by WNC’s Sen. Steve Goss, an ordained Baptist minister from Boone who is serving his second term in the General Assembly.

The bill was immediately and “strongly” opposed by the North Carolina Press Association, according to Executive Director Beth Grace, who told Xpress by e-mail: “This flies in the face of 200 years of free speech tradition in this state. We cannot and should not penalize citizens just for blogging or e-mailing something the government doesn’t like.
Chilling. What is the motive behind this Act? Full article here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

um....steve? bad idea.

Anonymous said...

and which party controls the general assembly??!!????

Anonymous said...

Looks like some corporate donor is trying to pressure the legislature. Some organization that might be threatened by bloggers--perhaps a wealthy media group? Maybe some other group who doesn't approve of how blogs contribute to democracy? Odd indeed.