Cyber Hostility Faces Jail Time While The FBI Lets Terrorists Through The Gate

I am no longer amazed at how upside down our country has become in the last 9 years, and I am just waiting for the “godsmack” to bring it back to the center.  Well there goes The Monster, I suppose.

From World Net Daily:

Hostile Bloggers Facing Fines, Jail?

Proposal ‘comes close to making it federal offense to log onto Internet’

A new proposal in Congress is threatening fines and jail time for what it calls “cyberbullying” – communications that include e-mails and text messages that “cause substantial emotional distress.”

The vague generalities are included in H.R. 1966 by California Democrat Linda Sanchez and about a dozen co-sponsors.

But it already is being condemned as unconstitutional, unrealistic and probably ineffectual.

At Wired.com, in a report labeled “Threat Level,” writer David Kravets criticized the plan to demand “up to two years in prison for those whose electronic speech is meant to ‘coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress.'”

Here is the relevant part of H.R. 1966:

SEC. 3. CYBERBULLYING.

(a) In General- Chapter 41 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

`Sec. 881. Cyberbullying

`(a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

`(b) As used in this section–

• `(1) the term `communication’ means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received; and

• `(2) the term `electronic means’ means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.’.

Meanwhile the FBI is letting terrorists through the gates.

From The Washington Times:

Terror suspects slip past FBI watch list

Nearly eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI’s terrorist watch list is so flawed that at least 10 people who should have been kept out of the United States were allowed to cross its borders, an internal audit released Wednesday shows.

Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn A. Fine concluded that the bureau also was slow to remove names that should not have been on the list, leading to outcries from civil libertarians who have long been critical.

…

The results of the audit came from an analysis of 216 terrorism cases from 2006 to the first half of 2008. The report said that the subjects of terrorism investigations, even those in the earliest stages, generally are put on the list.

The inspector general’s investigation found that the terrorism suspect was never added to the list in 15 percent of the cases analyzed, amounting to the FBI’s failure to add a total of 35 names. At least three people with names matching those of terrorism suspects who should have been on the list subsequently entered the U.S., the inspector general said.

“We believe that the FBI’s failure to consistently nominate subjects of international and domestic terrorism investigations to the terrorist watch list could pose a risk to national security,” the report stated. “The failure to nominate terrorism subjects can also lead to missed opportunities in gathering important intelligence, and it can place front-line law enforcement and screening personnel at increased risk.”

This just proves the point that there is no difference between Bush II and Bush III, and that “we” are the new threat, not islamic jihadists.

(Author’s Note: I would like to give a warm welcome to the National Cyber Forensics And Training Alliance for visiting the Monster!)