finding that a post on the social media website MySpace is a telecommunication
How later courts described this case
- finding that a post on the social media website MySpace is a telecommunication
- posting on the social networking internet web site MySpace, where viewing of the site is open to the public, is a telecommunication within the meaning of § 2917.21(B)
- no purpose to harass where defendant had the legitimate purpose of warning others about someone that she believed was a child molester
- internet posting did not have purpose to harass where the posting could have served the legitimate purpose of warning others of the subject's rumored criminal behavior and the posting was public but not directed to the subject
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
Painter, Judge,
concurring.
{¶ 19} It is a scary thought that someone could go to jail for posting a comment on the Internet. If so, we could not build jails fast enough.
{¶ 20} The statute on telecommunications harassment is the successor to the former telephone-harassment law. It is designed to prohibit harassing or threatening calls. Of course the calls may now be made over a traditional phone line, a cellular phone, or the Internet. But posting an annoying — but nonthreatening — comment on a website is not a crime under this statute. It might well be a civil wrong, but it is not jailable. The First Amendment would not allow
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punishment for making a nonthreatening comment on the Internet, just as it would not for writing a newspaper article, posting a sign, or speaking on the radio.