NJ, does being online really give a person the right to mentally and socially regress into a personality unfit for any civilized interaction? It boggles the mind to even think that something initially made to help science should instead be a reason to take some steps back on social evolution.

Get a life, girl!

You claim to report on, among other things, sex, and then you get your panties in a wad over being called a cunt? Wow. Just Wow.

Frankly, I would have never thought that anyone who has experienced puberty would be on Twitter in the first place, much less getting her bowels in an uproar over some wordy dird some other child said.

I support Ariel, after digging further and seeing many of the original postings. It IS tiring after dealing for years with this kind of harrassment, I know that first hand - just the bit I saw was already way over the line and I wouldn’t doubt the story there’s more, spread over many sites - seen the MO before, its a really common one. I’ve had it before at another site years ago, and I can completely sympathise (hence I don’t use a name here - sorry but I dont want it happening again!). And it can blow up in a terrible way, so take care of yourself and looking into seeking those restraining orders if you have to. Better safe than sorry.

It’s highly, highly disturbing.

Twitter is not a communication facility like the phone and ISPs, which are NETWORKS. Unless you’re in the habit of like, hooking your home phone to a loudspeaker so all your neighbors can hear. That’s just the most ridiculous argument I’ve ever heard. It’s an online service and a website, case closed. It’s more like MAGAZINES AND TV, nothing at all like TELEPHONES, CABLES and WIRELESS ROUTERS CONNECTED TO YOUR COMPUTER OR PHONE. Please grow a brain before saying such easily debunked silly crap

Second, The claim of “just providing a
service” did not help those who were sued by the various media companies when other “sertvice providers” were involved in file sharing. And it appears that the current case law is trumping the “ISPs cannot be held responsible” clause in the “decency act” From what I can tell from reading of other cases, it appears that the “shield” to the ISP disdappears after they have been informed of the issue and they have actually investigated. At that point they are in the position of a newspaper that continues to allow an advertiser to publish libel or slander. Which is to put them on *very* shakey legasl ground. Even opening themselves up to suit for deliberatly and activley facilitating the slanders publication.

Third, the item in TOS where they claim to not have to do anything also opens them up to being parties to the harrassment,m because, again, the wording says that, if they have looked at the imputed offensive writings, and refuse to take action *even if the content is deeemed to be actionable* sets them up for legal remedy (if it were to turn into a criminal case rather than a civil case it could be deemed as accessory after the fact”

Fourth, in this kind of commercial enterprise, the spectre of “violating rights to free speech” fails on at least two grounds: the “right” to commercial free speech is a “right” that protects the commercial enterprise from arbitraty “suppression of speech” by a government entity, not “suppression” by a private party through legal means (such as banning a user from a service, by the service, the equivalen of telling an vulgar and obscene household guest to leave), and, even in the case of the government action to “suppress,” the right is not absolute even there. There are limits.

Fifth — it would seem to me that a company that is still dependant upon outside capital for maintaioning service and/or growth that they would be a lot more proactive in making sure that their actions will not be viewed by those providing said funding for the company in a light that says that the management is not performing all they can to make/keep the company successful. If they cannot keep their house in order enough that they drive away ordinary, non-harrassing, customers, either current or future, what else is wromg with their business plan? (I for one, what had thought of having a presence on Twitter, will not bother now — life is too short to put up with the dreck if one has no resource.

Overall, cyberbullying ans cyberstalking are dangerous, and too many people think that it’s jkust a case of “get over it.” Tell that to the family of the teenager who killed herself after the cyberhassment of her by a fellow-classmate’s mother (who has now been charged)

- Craig R.