Posted on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 - 3:50 pm:

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i save my honest political debate for a great politics message board that i am a member of. we sometimes get some famous politicos and media members there.

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Posted on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 - 9:33 pm:

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wow, that board sounds cool. kind of like MOL pre-March, 2004.

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Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - 2:01 am:

Posted on Monday, March 6, 2006 - 10:26 pm:

. . .

[And this guy (http://hoofin.blogspot.com/2006/02/come-to-think-of-it.html) may be one of the ones who has been getting under Assemblyman Biondi's skin]

Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - 7:28 am:

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Feeling the heat, Assemblyman Peter Biondi (R-Somerset) said yesterday he is thinking hard about withdrawing a bill he introduced to limit anonymous speech on the Internet.

Biondi's said his legislation, A-1327, aims to restore "civility" to NJ.com online discussion forums serving Bedminster, Bridgewater and Hillsborough. (NJ.com and The Star-Ledger are owned by Advance Publications.)

The lawmaker said the measure was prompted by constituents who called his office -- anonymously -- asking if "we can put an end to people calling each other liars and slimeballs."

Biondi is being called a lot worse this week, thanks to online mentions of his bill on Web sites Slashdot.org, CNET and the Drudge Report. One NJ.com posting yesterday by "Darklight" compared the assemblyman with the hindquarters of a horse--and that is one of the nicer comments.

~snip~

Legally, the bill violates federal and New Jersey free speech protections, and runs counter to a tradition of anonymous speech dating to the Federalist Papers, said attorney Kurt Opsahl of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a cyber-rights group.

"It is part of the very foundations of our society," Opsahl said.

"Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority," the U.S. Supreme Court declared in 1995, in McIntyre v. the Ohio Election Commission.

~snip~

Biondi's bill has no co-sponsors, and isn't yet scheduled for hearings. The assemblyman, who said he doesn't have time to wade through online forums, has asked the state Office of Legislative Services to determine if the measure is constitutional.

"If it turns out this bill is unworkable, I'll certainly reconsider and withdraw it," said Biondi , 63, whose cyber-civics lesson has left him "inundated" with calls and e-mails.

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Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - 10:22 am:

Thank you for your e-mail. I understand your concerns with my recently proposed legislation. Based on the number of negative responses I have received about this legislation I have asked the NJ Office of Legislative Services to prepare an opinion regarding this bill's enforceability and constitutionality.

I did not draft this bill with intent to limit freedom of speech. The intent behind this legislation was to bring some civility back to public forums, in particular the forums on www.nj.com. As I receive more feedback from, literally, around the country, it is becoming apparent that the bill may be too broad in scope and in reality not enforceable.

As an aside, this bill was only introduced in January. There have been no committee hearings regarding this bill and there are none scheduled to my knowledge. I am getting inundated with responses which I will review and use to better educate myself on the implications of this bill. If, after reviewing all of the correspondence and the opinion of OLS, it turns out that the bill is, in fact, unworkable, I will certainly reconsider and withdraw it. In other words, this is not something that will happen overnight.

I appreciate your position and I will certainly use your commentary as I further study the unintended consequences of this legislation.

It is unfortunate, from my perspective, that while my intention here was civility and respectfulness, it turns out that it may have gone too far.

Thank you again for your e-mail and if I can do anything for you in the future, please do not hesitate to contact my office.

Sincerely,

Pete Biondi
Assemblyman