p2p news / p2pnet: A "diverse coalition of companies, public interest organizations, and legal scholars" want New Jersey assemblyman Peter J. Biondi and two colleagues, "not to waste taxpayer resources on bills that will, "inevitably be struck down in court".

As p2pnet posted on March 7, Biondi, "wants web site operators to make posters identifiable, in some way, so they can be sued if they upset someone".

Now the coalition, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), craigslist, Public Citizen, the US Internet Industry Association (USIIA), the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) and professors Lyrissa C. Barnett Lidsky and Jennifer M. Urban, has sent an open letter today to Biondi, misspelled Biodi, Wilfredo Caraballo and Upendra J. Chivukula.

It urges them to, "withdraw their support from two bills designed to eliminate anonymous online speech".

"Assembly bills A1327 and A2623 would require Internet service providers to record users’ identities and reveal them in any claim of defamation," say the EFF, et al. "While aimed at curbing online bad actors, the bills instead run afoul of the First Amendment – which protects the right to speak anonymously – as well as a federal law designed to protect speech in online fora. The bills would require identification of an online poster before the facts were resolved, leading to a flood of unsubstantiated claims designed simply to unmask online speakers."

Also See:
upset someone – New Jersey vs Free Speech, March 7, 2006
coalition – Proposed New Jersey Laws Would Chill Free Speech, March 13, 2006

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