CNN’s
Bill Mears reported in June that the Supreme Court was going to have a run in
with a speech crime involving the popular social media website, Facebook. A man
named Anthony Elonis was convicted in federal court and sentenced to 44 months
in prison for multiple criminal “threats” posted on his own Facebook page.
Elonis had posted multiple threatening posts about his wife and people
involved in his case. The main problem is trying to figure out whether posts on
a Facebook page can be considered as threats. One argument in Elonis’s favor is
that his lawyers said, "Although the language was, as with popular rap
songs addressing the same themes, sometimes violent, (the) petitioner posted
explicit disclaimers in his profile explaining that his posts were 'fictitious
lyrics,' they said.”
This reminded me of the Hustler case we viewed earlier in the school
year. Hustler got off the hook because they labeled in their ad that it was a
parody. I understand that Elonis did a similar thing, but if you are
threatening FBI agents and judges investigating you, I absolutely think you
have to be cautious of these and take them seriously.
I
would definitely feel threatened if anyone posted this kind of stuff about
myself. View the story here and see what you think.
Paige Patterson
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