Impractical, pointless law

Op-ed: As long as parents, teachers resort to cursing, talkback laws would make no difference

Reuters | Published: 12.15.10, 18:28

Curiosity already killed a cat or two out there, and one of these days I too shall be counted among its victims. It will likely happen on the day where I get the opportunity to discover the identity of the scumbag who floods the Internet with talkbacks replete with insights about my mediocre looks, weak personality, and hidden agenda to win publicity at any price.

A person like that truly exists; I swear I did not imagine him. He is also familiar with my personal biography and makes sure to include relevant details every time he goes on a talkback rampage, as if this was some kind of a national mission.

To be honest for a minute, the last person whose help I expected on this matter was Knesset Member Zevulun Orlev, who is now offering the good services of the law in identifying people who despise me so much that they bother to blast me every time my name emerges in the murky online space.

No, Mr. Orlev, I am not concerned by the freedom of speech about to be undermined as result of this law, and in fact, the last thing that bothers me is to see incoherent, rambling talkbackers being unable to launch their spelling mistakes into space.

Burdening the courts

The problem with this law is that it limps a 1,000 years behind technology, which allows people to curse under false identities via websites that hide their IP addresses. And have you heard of talkbacks written from work? The attempt to clear the Internet of the talkback stench can be likened to the desire of environmental activists to enforce littering laws. Huge fines are waved over our heads, yet these laws are almost never enforced.

As long as people curse at each other over the Knesset platform, as long as teachers grace their students with unflattering superlatives in class, and as long as angry parents speak crudely to their children, no Big Brother law will help here. The immediate result will be impossible burden on the courts, which are collapsing as it is; they will now be flooded by people overcome by blind curiosity and seeking to find out who dared to slam them and get even.

So no thanks, Mr. Orlev. Now that I’m given the opportunity to identify talkbackers, I pass. I shall continue to present an “I don’t care what they write about me” façade and persistently read each and every talkback written about me online.