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So let's say in some future everyone is always wearing AR. Now let's some someone somehow got derogatory terms to constantly float above your head. There are ne

So let's say in some future everyone is always wearing AR. Now let's some someone somehow got derogatory terms to constantly float above your head. There are negative impacts from this: loss of job, harder to meet people, unable to get hire. Because AR "isn't real", should you have no recourse against this? At the gut level, that doesn't feel right, so as much as some people want to pretend The Web is some wild west of freedom and lawlessness, it really makes sense (some times, with experts consulted) to have (some) regulations.

wyager 10y ago
You're leaving essentially everything about this scenario underspecified, but no; it should not be illegal to say mean things about someone through technology. Do you really have to ask that question?
- heartsucker 10y ago
  If somone followed someone else around all day and yelled obscenities at them, there are laws to punish the perpetrator. If someone followed you around everywhere you went on the internet and comment and messaged and posted obscenities at you, you'd want the same protection. I'm not saying people shouldn't be able to speak freely, but somewhere out there is a line that crosses from exercising freedom of speech into harassment. This comic [0] explains it nicely. Just because it's on the internet and "not real life" doesn't mean it doesn't affect your happiness or your life "offline." [0] - https://xkcd.com/1216/ https://xkcd.com/1216/
  - wyager 10y ago
    > If someone followed you around everywhere you went on the internet and comment and messaged and posted obscenities at you, you'd want the same protection. It's called a troll, and no I wouldn't, because I'm not a tremendous wanker. I'm an emotionally stable adult who can deal with someone calling me names. I prioritize free speech over the feelings of people who can't take shit on the Internet. It's not that I've never felt bad after someone criticized me on the Internet; it's that I understand that life is full of positive and negative interactions and you have to deal with both. Crying and demanding that insulting you be made illegal is a puerile and unhealthy response.
TheCoelacanth 10y ago
That seems like it would be covered by defamation without adding any new laws to deal with cyberspace.
- heartsucker 10y ago
  In that case yes, and in the above: > It's absolutely insane to suggest that one ought to have control over some abstract data I was responding to that to say that it's not insane to govern the internet either by new laws or by applying and extending existing laws. My point was to illustrate a case that should without a doubt merit some governance when it's just "abstract data."

wyager 10y ago

You're leaving essentially everything about this scenario underspecified, but no; it should not be illegal to say mean things about someone through technology. Do you really have to ask that question?

heartsucker 10y ago
If somone followed someone else around all day and yelled obscenities at them, there are laws to punish the perpetrator. If someone followed you around everywhere you went on the internet and comment and messaged and posted obscenities at you, you'd want the same protection. I'm not saying people shouldn't be able to speak freely, but somewhere out there is a line that crosses from exercising freedom of speech into harassment. This comic [0] explains it nicely. Just because it's on the internet and "not real life" doesn't mean it doesn't affect your happiness or your life "offline." [0] - https://xkcd.com/1216/ https://xkcd.com/1216/
- wyager 10y ago
  > If someone followed you around everywhere you went on the internet and comment and messaged and posted obscenities at you, you'd want the same protection. It's called a troll, and no I wouldn't, because I'm not a tremendous wanker. I'm an emotionally stable adult who can deal with someone calling me names. I prioritize free speech over the feelings of people who can't take shit on the Internet. It's not that I've never felt bad after someone criticized me on the Internet; it's that I understand that life is full of positive and negative interactions and you have to deal with both. Crying and demanding that insulting you be made illegal is a puerile and unhealthy response.

TheCoelacanth 10y ago

That seems like it would be covered by defamation without adding any new laws to deal with cyberspace.

heartsucker 10y ago
In that case yes, and in the above: > It's absolutely insane to suggest that one ought to have control over some abstract data I was responding to that to say that it's not insane to govern the internet either by new laws or by applying and extending existing laws. My point was to illustrate a case that should without a doubt merit some governance when it's just "abstract data."