Keller @ Large: Time To Rein In Online Harassment
BOSTON (CBS) -- Remember the bad old days, when smokers could torture you if you didn't like breathing or smelling their smoke because they were allowed to do their thing wherever and whenever they chose?
Those days are long gone, thankfully. Enough people rebelled against that obnoxious behavior to bring the full weight of majority opinion down on it, leading to laws and customs that confined smokers to areas where they could no longer make everyone else suffer.
I see no reason why that same story can't be repeated when it comes to a new plague that afflicts us – online harassment.
We've talked before about the revolting cesspool that too many online comment threads have become, with bullies and sickos given free reign to malign anyone they choose to target. In response, a growing number of websites have chosen to drop the comments.
But it's good to know we have some protection when things get out of hand, thanks to the state Supreme Judicial Court's affirmation of a state law that criminalizes internet speech aimed at seriously harming someone.
The case involved an Andover man and his wife who went to jail for harassing a neighbor by posting fake items on Craiglist and filing false claims of child abuse against him. In their appeal, the perps claimed First Amendment protection, but the court ruled that the constitutional right to free speech "does not provide a defense to a criminal charge simply because the actor uses words to carry out his illegal purpose."
I hope more people will realize the law protects them from this sort of crime, and bring that weight to bear on the creeps who abuse them.
Maybe, in time, they'll go the way of smokers, inflicting their damage only on others who choose to accept it.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
MORE LOCAL NEWS FROM CBS BOSTON
