Malicious Online Impersonation now Illegal in California

[Waldo]

Originally Posted by Medusa

The law goes into effect at the beginning of 2011, and critics say it could have a chilling effect on free speech. A group that does impersonations of corporations for the purpose of activism, Yes Men, told IDG that "political cronies" could use the law to attack those trying to expose information to the public through parody. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has also expressed concern that such a law could easily be used to "squelch political speech" and described the bill as "dangerous."

First - I find it a sad state of our world that a law like this needs to be in place. But with all things technological, you take the good with the bad. The anonymity of the Internet has made things like this possible and more widespread.

Second, and to the above quoted section - I wholeheartedly believe in the freedom of speech, including the right to criticism in activism. There are plenty of ways to do so which would remain legal under this law. Parody is insanely effective. The person who runs Untied.com has been successful in keeping that site online despite many threats and legal maneuvers from United. NoDaddy.com takes on Godaddy regularly - same thing. You don't have to pretend to be a corporation to get your point across.