From Rhode Island: '...let police get names and other identifying information from service providers for online speech that they find to be "offensive"...' Fro

From Rhode Island: '...let police get names and other identifying information from service providers for online speech that they find to be "offensive"...' From The Constitution: "...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech..." From The Supreme Court: "In Talley v. California, 362 U.S. 60 (1960), the Court struck down a Los Angeles city ordinance that made it a crime to distribute anonymous pamphlets. In McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 514 U.S. 334 (1995), the Court struck down an Ohio statute that made it a crime to distribute anonymous campaign literature. However, in Meese v. Keene,, 481 U.S. 465 (1987), the Court upheld the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, under which several Canadian films were defined as "political propaganda," requiring their sponsors to be identified."[1] It would appear there is more case law in support of protecting the constitution however this is not a guarantee. The Rhode Island law is broad enough to be used in situations outside of the spirit it is being sold under: "Protect the Children!" While I'm all for protecting those who can not protect themselves we as a country must start demanding that our law makers enact laws where the letters match the spirit. If you want to pass laws to stop pedophilia then write laws that says "<insert broad law text here> where such evidence can be used only within the scope of an investigation and prosecution of crimes under <insert the section from the current pedophilia laws that define what it is>" Is that so difficult? The courts enjoy interrupting the 'letter of the law' and not the spirit. From my perspective this is false advertisement to each supporting law makers constituents. We have an entire government agency, the FTC, that is devoted to protecting consumers against these sort of things [2][3][4] but they only investigate private individuals and corporations. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Political_speech http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_S... [2] http://news.cnet.com/FTC-settles-online-false-advertising-cases/2100-1017_3-239828.html http://news.cnet.com/FTC-settles-online-false-advertising-ca... [3] http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/07/nestle.shtm http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/07/nestle.shtm [4] http://www.winston.com/index.cfm?contentid=34&itemid=3772 http://www.winston.com/index.cfm?contentid=34&itemid=377...