New Law to Ban Urban Legends

[Guest guest]

V

Wed, 16 Feb 2005 20:08:33 -0600

FW: New Law to Ban Urban Legends

 

Forwarded excellent post made to another mailing list on a scary issue

that we have to stop in its tracks:

 

I wonder if it will also apply to politicians who spread lies????? If

so who will be left in Washington D.C.?

 

 

 

" Peter " Delta2477A wrote:

 

They now want to pass a law that makes it a criminal offense to pass

urban legends around, and even 90-days of jail time to make it.

 

This should not be allowed ever in america. Freedom of speech was

made so that criticism, and exchange of ideas can be made without fear

of receiving punishment by the government. One person who makes a

false statement, that happens to get carried around should not justify

the punishment of the people who perpetuated the urban- legend

un-knowingly.

 

This is just an excuse to crush political dissidents who criticized

the Bush administration; if any detail was wrong, it could be

classified as an urban legend, and the dissident punished.

 

Not even able to send e-mail freely, should you send an urban legend,

you get punished, if you create one, you get 90 days in jail.

 

That is just not right. Even the creations of urban legends should be

protected under the first amendment. The first amendment was created

so broad because they didn't want to take the risk of limitations on

it being somehow used hundreds of years down the road to stifle free

speach, and _expression, and transmission of information.

 

This will destroy our constitution, our first amendment, our very most

important amendment among all of them (not that the other's aren't).

 

Spread the word... I mean this, spread this to people who you know.

 

-Delta

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2005/02/ban_urban_legends.html

 

 

Tuesday, February 8 12:00 AM ET

New Legislation Would Ban Urban Legends

By Brian Briggs

 

Washington D.C. – A new law proposed by a bipartisan group of

Representatives would outlaw the spread of " urban legends. "

 

Press ConferenceRepresentative Simon Heedsmore of West Virginia said,

" We cannot allow these frauds to be perpetrated on the American

public. If the right urban legend were to be created it could cause a

panic which could have dangerous consequences to national security. "

 

Kevin Sikes, staffer for Representative Lewis of South Carolina said,

" It's ridiculous how many questions about the e-mail tax we get. There

ought to be a law to stop that sort of thing, and soon there will be. "

 

Publicly, Representatives are touting " national security " on the urban

legend issue, but privately they say the real reason is preventing

embarrassment. In January, a bill almost made it out of committee that

would've forced Starbucks to sell coffee to the armed forces in Iraq.

The bill was in response to a hoax circulating in e-mail that

Starbucks was refusing to provide coffee to the army, because it did

not support the war. Fortunately, a staffer found the hoax debunked on

a web site, before the bill made it to the floor for a vote.

 

" It was embarrassing for the Representatives and they didn't want to

go through that again, " said one staffer who wished to remain anonymous.

 

The bill would punish individuals who create or spread this type of

information. Penalties range from fines of $500 for sending an urban

legend e-mail to 90 days in jail for creating and publishing one.

 

The ACLU contends that this law would violate free speech rights.

" Congress cannot limit constitutionally guaranteed rights, just

because they are too dumb to realize something is a piece of fiction.

We are confident the law will be overturned, " said Chief Counsel

Elliott Spence.

 

An urban legend or urban myth is usually apocryphal story involving

incidents of the recent past, often including elements of humor and

horror, which spreads quickly and is popularly believed to be true.