Although representatives deny any connection to the recent prank call on the governor, two legislators began circulating a bill Monday that would ban making trick calls masking the caller’s true identity.
Sen. Mary Lazich, R-Waukesha, and Rep. Mark Honadel, R-Milwaukee, authored a bill that would prohibit tricking the call’s recipient into believing the caller is someone they are not for malicious purposes.
“While use of spoofing is said to have some legitimate uses, it can also be used to frighten, harass and potentially defraud,” Lazich and Honadel said in an e-mail to legislators.
But as long as it’s still legal for Republicans to dress as pimps and plot the rape of CNN reporters, This Republic remains free!
harokin
But shouting obscenities at mourners at military funerals? A-OK!
David Koch
We won’t be safe until we ban prank identities on the twitter machine.
Look at how badly Mayor Rahm and BP where treated with fake accounts.
gwangung
So, Republicans want to make it illegal to show how stupid they are?
Roger Moore
It’s all fun and games until somebody
loses an eyedoes it to a Republican.stuckinred
Can we go after the David Koch who has surfaced here???
Dave
Is proving Walker is a paid employee of the Koch Brothers considered “malicious”? I’d say it’s a god-damned public service.
biff diggerence
Mommy State Alert.
clone12
So does that mean we can frog march James O’Keefe?
BGinCHI
Good luck with enforcement.
They should call it the “Amanda Hugginkiss” Bill.
Omnes Omnibus
Oh, for fuck’s sake. First, I guess there are a lot of 11 year olds who are going to jail. Second, Walker was gullible and fell for a prank. Deal with it. Fucking pathetic. Whiny assholes.
Omnes Omnibus
@stuckinred: I think he is real. I mean, he says all the right things. Why would he do that if he wasn’t real? A joke? A parody? Nah… Not on this blog.
Linnaeus
I am outraged at this blatant attempt to expand the oppressive power of Big Government.
Gin & Tonic
Speaking of pranksters, GOS is reporting that the moron from HBGary Federal has been canned. Anonymous is completely responsible for that scalp.
Ash Can
Republican butthurt never fails to crack me up.
Kryptik
And don’t forget, it’s entirely legal, and hell, JUSTIFIED even, to mischaracterize a political opponent’s motives and purposely misinterpret sarcasm for seriousness, as long as you have a TV deal that’s lazy enough to not even check on your own personal blog when you admit said comment was sarcasm.
Of course, CNN has total faith in Erick Erickson’s unimipeachable civility.
JCT
These idiots are parodies of adults.
Zifnab
So what happens if you prank call from out of state? Do we need to get the FBI involved?
Jay in Oregon
@gwangung:
“Hey, how about I call you an idiot in public, and you can convict me for revealing state secrets.”
— Matthew Stoner to Michael Garibaldi, Babylon 5
TooManyJens
Great, does that mean that robocalls from Republican operatives pretending to be Democrats and designed to piss voters off will be illegal too?
Yeah, like I don’t know the answer to that.
Kryptik
@TooManyJens:
Of course not. How do you prosecute a robot, after all!
Ash Can
Methinks a couple of Republican WI state legislators need to be on the lookout the next few days for phone calls involving prominent right wingers, Oliver Klozoff, or running refrigerators.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ash Can: I am sure Michael Hunt will call as well.
Davis X. Machina
@Omnes Omnibus: We had an actual Michael Hunt here at my school years ago, and at the same time an AFS student named Horst Schmidt.
Afternoon announcements were a hoot, some days.
jibeaux
“to frighten, harass, and potentially defraud”
Well, we already have handy laws for fraud and threats, as well as restraining orders. Unless the governor was more scared than he let on, I don’t see how the Buffalo Beast’s phone call would even fall into any of those categories. I don’t personally consider letting the public know what a douchebag a public official is a “malicious purpose.” But have fun with the litigation resulting from trying to enforce such a vague, overbroad, and Constitutionally dubious law.
jibeaux
also too, my buddy Hugh Jass is pretty upset about this proposal.
Omnes Omnibus
@jibeaux:
Wow, understatement of the day.
Judas Escargot
Greyface is displeased.
Legalize
Hugh G. Rection has not been reached for comment.
Jay in Oregon
Will the distinguished Representative Heywood Jablome be signing on as a co-sponsor?
JenJen
Speaking of CNN reporters, how come John King keeps letting Erick Erickson pimp his lies about Greg Sargent?
You don’t have to answer that.
jibeaux
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yep. But I don’t think a court would ever get to the Constitutional implications, because it’s got to get over tiny hurdles such as defining “malicious purposes” first.
Kryptik
@JenJen:
Like I noted above on this exact same thing, CNN has the utmost faith in Erickson’s unimpeachable civility.
Which gives you a sense of where things are skewed.
PIGL
then too, there’s the noble and highly Republican industry of collections. Let’s just put them out of business, shall we?
Thot not.
shawntos
Oh my God! What will happen to The Jerky Boys? Will the FBI come after Sol Rosenberg and Frank Rizzo?
See ya later there Jerky.
machine
I have a golf buddy named Dave Koch. Maybe he can be pressed into service for calls.
Hawes
As long as they leave Anonymous alone.
Did you see this?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20110224/tc_digitaltrends/anonymousseizeswestborobaptistsdomainduringlivetvconfrontation
Hilarious and Awesome got married and had a baby named Justice.
Mike Kay (True Grit)
O’Reilly is still after Jack Me’off
https://balloon-juice.com/2011/03/02/then-they-came-for-the-pranksters/#comments
JenJen
@Kryptik: Yes. And, not to mention, completely fucked up.
I am in a bit of a mood today.
gnomedad
Hate crime legislation is still over the top, though.
Mike in NC
I denounce both Josef Stalin and prank callers.
Dave N.
How would this even be enforced? By tapping every phone in the state?
And then there is this little nugget: “However, law enforcement and government regulatory agents who use phone spoofing to fight crime would be exempt from the law.”
Limited government at its finest – they can prank call us, but it is illegal for us to prank call them.
prince albert
I approve of this bill. my fondest hope would be that our parliament considers a similar measure, posthaste!
mds
@prince albert:
Oh, can it, albert.
James O’Keefe’s actions were illegal, he’s just not being held accountable for them. Now don’t you feel better?
scarshapedstar
Constitution, anyone?
Also, does this apply to Koch-funded push polls?
Rekster
Next bill will be banning calls asking: “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” and “Is your refrigerator running?”.
The Republican Party also known as the No Sense of Humor Party.
Petorado
Well this proposed law will keep the hardened criminals off the streets … and more importantly, off of my lawn! Republican win!