Wide spread trolling/arguments have been on the Internet for decades so the odds are good it's caselaw someplace. I would not be shocked if the longer existence of the telephone and crank calling would also cover this argument idea.
Having a criminal fight over doing something to Pat as the defendant isn't a life choice I'd make.
A janny versed in legalese put a quick explanation of cyberstalking in Rick's thread:
It is. 18 U.S. Code § 2261A, called "Stalking", covers both physical and cyber stalking, however the later part is incredibly narrow. Notably, if you do Cyberstalking in the same state as the victim, this Federal law does not apply.
At any rate, 18 U.S. Code § 2261A (2) states that if you "with the intent to kill, injure, harass, intimidate" place someone under surveillance and "engage in a course of conduct that":
- places that person in reasonable fear of the death [for animal or person close to the victim or themselves]
or
- [causes distress in relation to the above]
The very same thing applies to electronic communications, just replace "place someone under surveillance" part with it. Notably, as used elsewhere in title 18, harassment refers to activity without any legitimate purpose. Constitutionally protected activity remains protected. 6th circuit recently came to the same conclusion (though in other words). "It is difficult to imagine what constitutionally-protected political or religious speech would fall under these statutory prohibitions. Most, if not all, of these laws' legal applications are to conduct that is not protected by the First Amendment." U.S. v. Bowker, 372 F.3d 365 (6th Cir. 2004)
Based on this, my knowledge of the case, and my (very limited, probably incorrect) legal knowledge, I can come to the following conclusions:
First and foremost, Kiwi Farms is in the clear. We explicitly denounce contacting lolcows, and admitting to doing so will get you banned. Furthermore, as a public figure who makes his every waking thought public, Patrick isn't immune from the criticism and mockery we hand out.
ONA is in a slightly different, very leaky boat, but they're still in the clear. To qualify as harassment,
three criteria need to be met:
- The actions need to be intentional
- The actions need to be repeated
- The actions need to put you in reasonable fear for your life and well-being
First, please note these criteria and consider Josh's wisdom in building a site culture that discourages contacting lolcows.
Now, ONA meets the first two criteria, but (as far as I know) they keep their harassment online. They don't threaten the pig. Any IRL activities involve observation. And more importantly
Patrick responds. He tells them to piss off in the most belligerent way possible which makes it look like's a drunken wannabe tough guy trying to show off (he is but that's beside the point.) By responding belligerently, the harassment becomes an argument. If he never responded and ONA kept up the pressure, it'd be harassment, and he'd have a case.
Torswats throws an interesting wrench into the works. He's clearly not connected to ONA, but the question remains if Patrick paid him for the SWAT attacks.
tldr: if Patrick stopped trying to get the last word in, he could've brought ONA down years ago.
Any way you slice it, we're in for some wonderful, hilarious drama.
Legal Kiwis, please give me trash cans and correct me if my assumptions were wrong.