Do you know a United States House of Representatives bill H.R. 1966 would make your internet activities a felony if ‘the intent is to coerce, intimidate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to a person’. The words of the act refer to ‘the use of popular electronic communications’. That covers everything from SMS text messages and instant messaging, to blogs and Web site comments.

Personally, you wouldn’t hurt a fly. But if the feds are after you, you could find yourself in a federal penitentiary for two years for that angry cross fire of emails or a blog that upset someone. Maybe you will be whisked away by the Feds as you pass through an American international airport.


Your alleged victim will not be required to produce a medical certificate demonstrating substantial emotional distress.

H.R. 1966 has a long way to go before it can be turned into Federal Law. However the present political mood in America whether supporters of  President Barack  Obama or torturer Dick Cheney does not favor the traditional  unbridled freedom of the internet. The present nominee for the United States Supreme Court indicates internet freedom won’t be protected there either.


H.R. 1966 is a part of a raft of Federal laws that seem to be aimed at turning the land of the free into the thought crime environment of Canada and the E.U.

Also now wriggling its way through the U.S. Congress is the Hate Crimes Prevention Bill. That would drasticly increase sentences for aggravated crimes where the intention is to injure any favored minority group. You might ask what has that to do with me. Maybe a great deal if for example you are for religious reason not really in favor of single sex marriages and an ambitious D.A. convinces a jury your eloquent words incited a complete stranger to commit an aggravated assault.

Retired ESL teacher Doctor Fredrick Toben has already done prison time in two democratic countries, Germany and United Kingdom for thought crimes.  He expects to be sentenced for three months imprisonment on June 2nd for thought crimes in a third, Australia.  He is to be sentenced for gross contempt of court. Under the Australian  Federal Racial Discrimination Act it is an offence ‘to communicate words, sounds, images or writing to the public if they are reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or group and is done because of the race, color  or national or ethnic origin of the other person or people’. Under the terms of that act he was ordered by a Federal Court in 2007 to remove material from his website. He promised to do so but failed to comply.  

His gripe is he was ordered to remove material that challenges official history of World War Two. He argues he is now a martyr to freedom of speech in the western world.   He says the international human rights organizations demand absolute compliance with freedom of speech issues for every people in the world except Europeans. He might   argue that is racial discrimination. Europeans can’t get off the hook by claiming they are prohibiting hate speech.

Goethe