Proposed NJ law could affect online forums

[Preacherman]

From the New Jersey Legislature Web site ( http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2006/Bills/A1500/1327_I1.HTM ):

ASSEMBLY, No. 1327

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

212th LEGISLATURE​

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2006 SESSION


Sponsored by:

Assemblyman PETER J. BIONDI
District 16 (Morris and Somerset)


SYNOPSIS

Makes certain operators of interactive computer services and Internet service providers liable to persons injured by false or defamatory messages posted on public forum websites.


CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

As introduced.


An Act concerning the posting of certain Internet messages and supplementing chapter 38A of Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.


Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:


1. As used in this act:

"Information content provider" means any person or entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of information provided through the Internet or any other interactive computer service.

"Interactive computer service" means any information system, service, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides service to the Internet.

"Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and non-federal interoperable packet switched data networks.

"Internet service provider" or "provider" means any person, business or organization qualified to do business in this State that provides individuals, corporations, or other entities with the ability to connect to the Internet through equipment that is located in this State.

"Operator" means any person, business or organization qualified to do business in this State that operates an interactive computer service.


2. The operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider shall establish, maintain and enforce a policy to require any information content provider who posts written messages on a public forum website either to be identified by a legal name and address, or to register a legal name and address with the operator of the interactive computer service or the Internet service provider through which the information content provider gains access to the interactive computer service or Internet, as appropriate.


3. An operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider shall establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.


4. Any person who is damaged by false or defamatory written messages that originate from an information content provider who posts such messages on a public forum website may file suit in Superior Court against an operator or provider that fails to establish, maintain and enforce the policy required pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (C.) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and may recover compensatory and punitive damages and the cost of the suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee, cost of investigation and litigation from such operator or provider.


5. This act shall take effect on the 90th day following enactment.


STATEMENT

This bill would require an operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish, maintain and enforce a policy requiring an information content provider who posts messages on a public forum website either to be identified by legal name and address or to register a legal name and address with the operator or provider prior to posting messages on a public forum website.

The bill requires an operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.

In addition, the bill makes any operator or Internet service provider liable for compensatory and punitive damages as well as costs of a law suit filed by a person damaged by the posting of such messages if the operator or Internet service provider fails to establish, maintain and enforce the policy required by section 2 of the bill.

 

[hkmp5g17]

Is this in responce to the recent craigslist case?

 

[musher]

Should be interesting to see them try to go after isp's in other states...or countries.

 

[swampsniper]

They'll never take me alive!
Why don't they just surrender to Canada, and go away.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

IANAL but I fail to see how New Jersey can possibly pass a law that applies to any entity outside of New Jersey.

This proposed law has all the earmarks of idiot legislation, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Hey, New Jersey!

Uh, you guys might want to take a look at this. I'm pretty sure it conflicts with the 1st Amendment, but since when has that ever stopped 'em?

I wonder if they're going to make it illegal to publish books anonymously and speak in public without telling everyone where you live, too.

SOURCE.


ASSEMBLY, No. 1327


STATE OF NEW JERSEY

212th LEGISLATURE



PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2006 SESSION







Sponsored by:

Assemblyman PETER J. BIONDI

District 16 (Morris and Somerset)



SYNOPSIS

Makes certain operators of interactive computer services and Internet service providers liable to persons injured by false or defamatory messages posted on public forum websites.


CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

As introduced.





An Act concerning the posting of certain Internet messages and supplementing chapter 38A of Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.



Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:



1. As used in this act:

"Information content provider" means any person or entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of information provided through the Internet or any other interactive computer service.

"Interactive computer service" means any information system, service, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides service to the Internet.

"Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and non-federal interoperable packet switched data networks.

"Internet service provider" or "provider" means any person, business or organization qualified to do business in this State that provides individuals, corporations, or other entities with the ability to connect to the Internet through equipment that is located in this State.

"Operator" means any person, business or organization qualified to do business in this State that operates an interactive computer service.



2. The operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider shall establish, maintain and enforce a policy to require any information content provider who posts written messages on a public forum website either to be identified by a legal name and address, or to register a legal name and address with the operator of the interactive computer service or the Internet service provider through which the information content provider gains access to the interactive computer service or Internet, as appropriate.



3. An operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider shall establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.



4. Any person who is damaged by false or defamatory written messages that originate from an information content provider who posts such messages on a public forum website may file suit in Superior Court against an operator or provider that fails to establish, maintain and enforce the policy required pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (C.) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and may recover compensatory and punitive damages and the cost of the suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee, cost of investigation and litigation from such operator or provider.



5. This act shall take effect on the 90th day following enactment.





STATEMENT



This bill would require an operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish, maintain and enforce a policy requiring an information content provider who posts messages on a public forum website either to be identified by legal name and address or to register a legal name and address with the operator or provider prior to posting messages on a public forum website.

The bill requires an operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.

In addition, the bill makes any operator or Internet service provider liable for compensatory and punitive damages as well as costs of a law suit filed by a person damaged by the posting of such messages if the operator or Internet service provider fails to establish, maintain and enforce the policy required by section 2 of the bill.

 

[Crosshair]

Where is THR server located anyway??? I can see this getting laughed out of court.

 

[gunsmith]

NJ Republicans tell this guy what for!

DISTRICT OFFICE ADDRESS: 1 East High St.
Somerville, NJ 08876

PHONE NUMBER: (908) 252-0800
ELECTRONIC MAIL: Contact Your Legislator(s)


BORN: June 23, 1942
OCCUPATION: Legislator
PUBLIC/PARTY SERVICE: Somerset County Youth Services Commission 1996-present, Co-Chair 1997; Hillsborough Township Planning Board 1986-99; Somerset County Board of Freeholders 1994-97, Director 1996, Deputy Director 1995; Industrial Pollution Control Financing Authority 1997; Somerset County Planning Board 1994-96; Joint Insurance Fund Special Commissioner 1996, Alternate 1995; Hillsborough Capital Planning Committee 1994-95; Hillsborough Township Committee 1983-93, Mayor 1986-93, Deputy Mayor 1985
MILITARY SERVICE: U.S. Army Reserve 1961-67
LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: General Assembly 1998-present, Republican Conference Leader 2006-present, Assistant Republican Leader 2002-03
COMMITTEES: Regulated Professions and Independent Authorities
Legislative Services Commission
BILLS SPONSORED: List of Bills Sponsored by Assemblyman Biondi

 

[mons meg]

DISTRICT OFFICE ADDRESS: 1 East High St.
Somerville, NJ 08876

PHONE NUMBER: (908) 252-0800
ELECTRONIC MAIL: Contact Your Legislator(s)

Be sure and sign all correspondence as "Publius".

 

[geekWithA.45]

This looks like it would crash right up against even valid interpretations of the commerce clause, nevermind its invalid massively expanded interpretation.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Hey, I posted a thread about this last night, and no one read it. Preacherman posts a thread about this a little while ago and gets eight replies.

I'm beginning to think you guys don't like me anymore.

(And you guys are all, "Anymore? Listen, man...")

 

[John Hicks]

See, now you have a reply.

<Art's Grammaw stopped by.>

This legislation only goes to further solidify that description.

Commerce clause, free speech, privacy -- pick a legal topic and apply it to this law. It's a loser any way you look at it.

jh

 

[Preacherman]

Nightcrawler, look at the dates and times of the posts. I posted this a few hours before you did, so I guess that's why my thread picked up more replies. I remind you, as I remind others, that it's worth checking to see whether a thread has already been posted on a topic before duplicating the subject.

Anyway, I've merged both our threads now, so all the replies will be in one place.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Leave it to a moderator to take all of the fun out of righteous indignation.

Anyway, I thought for sure this was a mistake when I first read it. I mean, they can't be serious. One state trying to regulate the internet?

As I said, are they going to make it illegal to speak in public without giving your full name and home address also?

There's no way this will stand if challenged in court, unless things are a lot worse than they seem.

What the heck is the deal with New Jersey anyway?

 

[Preacherman]

There's no way this will stand if challenged in court, unless things are a lot worse than they seem.

Remember that you're dealing with a New Jersey law, which will - at least initially - be adjudicated in New Jersey State courts. This is the same State court system that allowed Lautenberg to stand for election in direct and obvious contradiction to New Jersey's own Constitution - because the party machine running NJ has, over the years, appointed their own judges to the State Supreme Court, with predictable results...

 

[Nightcrawler]

Really?

Oh man.

Maybe there's some hope for a federal court challenge? Obviously, if NJ tried to sue an out-of-state 'net server over something like this, it could get dicey for them.

 

[Nathaniel Firethorn]

I doubt that this will go very far.

- NF

 

[WT]

The NJ politicians and cops are tired of people complaining about them on the internet. They want to be able to locate the complainers and, if they live in NJ, make life miserable for them.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Good luck getting personal jurisdiction over a server outside NJ.

 

[James T Thomas]

knock,knock,who's there?

It seems that in spite of State's rights, soverignty, and our U.S. Constitution, that once these opportunists get their "foot in the door," it will be a homeland invasion.

Condider the golden state of California, and it's pernicious mind set; that once precidence is set there "-Dizzyland," that it spreads like some avian flu epidemic.

Those who would rule over us choose the politically ripe state in which to launch their schemes, and if legislated in the target state, then the whole surrounding body becomes corrupted.

That is the source for some of the battles against infection that we are fighting now.

And then, there are our supreme, Supreme Court Justices, who are willing to have us ruled by European, U.N. precident laws, regulations, and treaties that would bind us further.

 

[carlrodd]

i was thinking the other day how new jersey is so consistently out of touch. this is my theory: geographically, the majority of new jersey is populated by upper middle-class white folks who are, on average, rather more educated than their neighbours in bordering states. affluence, education, and removal from the harsher realities of living frequently breed such silly, delusional, out of touch responses to just about anything that seems a threat to that eventless, routine, comfortable way of living.......that and all the chemicals and fuel refinery waste that drifts across the river from delaware and pennsylvania.

many citizens of new jersey are comfortable with high speed internet access, suvs, their kids' soccer games, and being able to shake their heads at the horrifying goings on outside of the walls of their sequestered suburbia that is populated by acre after acre of planned communities. when big brother makes his big push to wrest control of thoughts and feelings from the average joe, new jersey's white suburbia will enthusiastically hand over their hearts and minds while waving AmeriSoc flags and chattering about the new super wawa down the street. they will form the backbone of the coming inner party. citizens of d.c. area maryland and northern VA will happily join the throng.

 

[Manedwolf]

This is my theory: geographically, the majority of new jersey is populated by upper middle-class white folks who are, on average, rather more educated than their neighbours in bordering states.

You ever been to Trenton? Newark, which looks like a Blade Runner matte painting? Or worse, Camden, the only US city that sociologists have EVER called "beyond recovery"?

 

[Nathaniel Firethorn]

I grew up in Elsmere and Newark, DE. As far as the suburbatronic-unit culture goes, New Jersey has nothing whatsoever on Delaware. Or, say, King of Prussia and Hatboro, PA, both of which places I've lived in.

Rather than spending your energy on bashing, I would invite you to do something helpful. Check out the link in my .sig.

- NF

 

[Mongo the Mutterer]

From the bill:

"Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and non-federal interoperable packet switched data networks.

HMMM Jersey guys "international computer network" ... what is it about those words you don't understand?

 

[TheEgg]

I don't get this part --

The bill requires an operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.

Who determines false and defamatory? Are we going to have a trial? If we have a trial, how can the provider ever be found guilty -- the court would have to find the individual first, before we can have a trial, thus negating the ability to charge the provider, because we already know who it is?????

Or is the intent here that any public official/politician who CLAIMS that something on the errornet is false or defamatory can just make the claim, and force the disclosure of the posters personal information?

And note the wording "False or defamatory" rather than "False AND defamatory. Cannot something be dafamatory, but still true? Thus, even if you post something TRUE about one of the stalwart protectors of the New Jersey Utopia, you could still be outed?

Man, my head hurts.