Larry Downes March 20, 2006 From the Ox to the Cyberstalker FROM INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE

Copyright 2006 by Larry Downes. All rights reserved. My research interests The accident-prone intersection of Economic Innovation, Law, and Technology

FROM INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE Copyright 2006 by Larry Downes. All rights reserved. Centralization and the Law, 1906 Brooks Adams, “[Y]ou can no more reason from highway precedents to railway problems than you can reason from the ox to the electric battery.”

FROM INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE Copyright 2006 by Larry Downes. All rights reserved. Communications Decency Act “Whoever... initiates the transmission of... communication which is obscene or indecent, knowing that the recipient of the communication is under 18 years of age... shall be fined under Title 18, or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." 47 U.S.C.A. §223(a) (1996)

FROM INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE Copyright 2006 by Larry Downes. All rights reserved. Communications Decency Act “Whoever... initiates the transmission of... communication which is obscene or indecent, knowing that the recipient of the communication is under 18 years of age... shall be fined under Title 18, or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." 47 U.S.C.A. §223(a) (1996) VOID! 1 1 ACLU v. Reno, 520 U.S (1997)

FROM INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE Copyright 2006 by Larry Downes. All rights reserved. Violence Against Women Act, 2006 “Whoever... utilizes a telecommunications device, whether or not conversation or communication ensues, without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the called number or who receives the communications; shall be fined under Title 18, or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." 47 U.S.C.A. §223(a) (2006)

FROM INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE Copyright 2006 by Larry Downes. All rights reserved. Violence Against Women Act, 2006 “[Telecommunications device] includes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet.” 47 U.S.C.A. §223(h) (2006) (“Preventing Cyberstalking”)

FROM INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE Copyright 2006 by Larry Downes. All rights reserved. Unintended Consequences The Cyberstalking provision would apply if you throw your PDA at me from the back row of class. Even if you missed me. Even if I didn’t realize you’d thrown it. Two years in a federal prison.

FROM INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE Copyright 2006 by Larry Downes. All rights reserved. Response to CDA I

FROM INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE Copyright 2006 by Larry Downes. All rights reserved. Response to CDA II? “All I can say is that some things never change.”

FROM INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE Copyright 2006 by Larry Downes. All rights reserved. The Enemy has Changed