Ah, the vindication

Last week I wrote a post about Assemblyman Peter Bondi's ill advised attack on free speech. Well, I guess others were offended as much as I was and this week in Information Week there was an article about the backlash.

A New Jersey Assemblyman's Internet civility bill is on ice since opponents blasted it as an assault on free speech.

Assemblyman Peter Biondi and his staff said they were trying to curb malicious exchanges on some local discussion boards when they introduced a bill requiring people to provide their real names and addresses before posting on public Web sites. The bill also stated that hosts could be sued for failing to disclose the identities of people disseminating false or defamatory information.

Biondi's staff drafted the measure late last year. In was introduced in January. The bill hadn't even made it to committee before a small weekly newspaper published an article about it and Internet news providers began spreading the word. Then, callers from as far away as Canada deluged Biondi's office with complaints. link

Everyone else was talking about free speech. I still want to know why this yahoo is not focused on the financial problems of the state.