Foul Language and Death Threats on the Information Superhighway

[mandy]

"The information superhighway has become the mean streets of cyburbia," says Silicon Valley technology forecaster Paul Saffo. "It's just gotten steadily worse. ... If cocktail parties were like the Internet, half the people would come home every night dripping wet from glasses of Chardonnay tossed in their faces," Saffo says...

The Internet always has had an anything-goes atmosphere where flame wars and harsh language are common. Now there are more places than ever for people to spout their thoughts -- often with relative anonymity -- thanks to the explosion in blogs, social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and comments sections on nearly every news site.

However, a series of incidents, including one involving a female technology blogger who briefly went into hiding after receiving sexually explicit death threats, has made online incivility an increasingly hot topic and fueled a debate over how to balance free speech with social etiquette...

full article: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/58592.html

[BellisimaJ.]

However, a series of incidents, including one involving a female technology blogger who briefly went into hiding after receiving sexually explicit death threats, has made online incivility an increasingly hot topic and fueled a debate over how to balance free speech with social etiquette...

Threats of physical harm are not protected speech. Nor is electronic "harassment" protected.