Judge Rules You Have a Right to Be a Horrible Monster on Twitter
Congratulations to all the horrible people on Twitter (and there are so, so many of you): A judge has just ruled that posting thousands of creepy, insane, obsessive rambling messages at someone is a constitutional right.
William Lawrence Cassidy spent a lot of time from 2008-2010 harassing a Buddhist leader named Alyce Zeoli, against whom he had some sort of grudge, on Twitter. (You should check out Zeoli aka Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo Wikipedia page, by the way.) He posted more than 8,000 weird and disturbing messages directed at Zeoli from a series of pseudonymous accounts. Things like "Do the world a favor and go kill yourself. P.S. Have a nice day" and ""Ya like haiku? Here's one for ya. Long limb, sharp saw, hard drop" For this he was arrested in August under a new Federal anti-stalking law.
But today a judge dismissed the lawsuit because he likened Twitter to critical postings on a public message board, rather than harassing someone with phone calls or private emails. He writes: "While Mr. Cassidy's speech may have inflicted substantial emotional distress, the government's indictment here is directed squarely at protected speech: anonymous, uncomfortable Internet speech addressing religious matters."
Alright, gonna go troll the Pope.
