Posted on Saturday, 1st December 2007 by Patrick Dorwin
The next time you think something you do or say on a blog, or anywhere on the internet is anonymous, think again. An Oak Creek high school teacher and past president of a teachers union said some very stupid things on Boots & Sabers, it got the attention of a police detective and the man was arrested for the threats he made while praising the Colombine killers.
I think that the intention of the teacher was to make Conservatives look bad, but the police took it as a threat. I agree with Owen, it was an overreaction by police, as no direct threat against anyone was made. Does the implied threat on this sentence rise to the level of justifying an arrest?
Kids like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold members of the Young Republicans club at Columbine. They knew how to deal with the overpaid teacher union thugs. One shot at a time! Too bad the liberals rip them; they were heroes and should be remembered that way.â€
Again, I think an arrest was an overreaction, but it should be used as a teachable moment for those of you that think that the internet offers you anonymity.
JS Online: Teacher arrested in Web posting
Posted in Home | Comments (14)
14 Responses to “Think you are anonymous?”
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December 1st, 2007 at 9:45 am
From the js article: “Maryjane Burdge, West Bend’s assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, agreed that she and other officials did interpret the statement as a threat. For that reason, they notified police the same day of the posting.”
I haven’t discussed this with anyone from any of the law enforcement agencies involved, but based upon my own experience I think I can safely say that once the matter was brought to the attention of the law enforcement authorities, they were compelled to take action. I suspect they would have taken the same action even if the school officials had not expressed concern. No sane police administrator is going to handle this any other way and take the risk of being crucified if the writer actually follows through with even a thinly veiled threat. This is why we have mandatory arrest policies for Domestic Violence cases even when physical evidence is not always present. And after the Virginia Tech tragedy, law enforcement agencies are not going to error on the side of “free speech”.
December 1st, 2007 at 10:35 am
I can see your point Glenn, in effect, they were damned (by commentary from people like me) if they do, and damned if they don’t, if it would have been a legitimate threat.
It certainly ruined that teachers day though
December 1st, 2007 at 10:59 am
As always, I’m only attempting to bring in the law enforcement perspective based upon my experience. I do understand the common sense argument however. Believe me when I say that lawsuits and the msm have taken common sense completely out of the decision-making picture. You wouldn’t believe some of the things that dictate a summary arrest. If he is at liberty to do so, the prosqtor could probably tell you some real horror stories.
December 1st, 2007 at 11:00 am
Speaking from the technical end of things, since I work in the field and I believe Owen does as well, people DO need to be educated that your IP address IS traceable. It is your footprint on the internet and all it takes is one request of law enforcement to that service provider who owns that IP address to identify the user of that IP address at the date/time of that post/comment and you are located.
December 1st, 2007 at 1:29 pm
well he is over paid if he is that stupid to print that and think thier would not be a back lash. 70% of are public school teachers are over paid the ones that don’t teach, the ones that don’t care,the ones that teach math but find class time to try and teach the far left code pink,daily kos trash to are young children. don’t get me wrong thier are some wonderful teachers out thier some who really make a difference (U hear Me Mr Devenport ?) this man truely change my life. up the pay of the ones that make a difference. The teachers union like every other Union in the land from the 1960′s forward…. have hurt thier members more than they help with more pay for less production and substandered work Detroit is agreat example.
December 1st, 2007 at 5:51 pm
In this, I hope there’s plenty of discussion about the role of anonymity on blogs. B&S’s policy was all over the map on this. They allowed anonymity, even encouraged it. But then they’d “out” someone based on their IP address when they felt like it. If a contrary commenter posted from a governmental IP address, Owen and Jed felt free to reveal that info as a point of argument in one of their subsequent comments!
And of course I can’t help but let this be about me, me, me. When I was booted booted from B&S on similarly unevenly-enforced T&S violations, Owen claimed I’d sock-puppeted a half-dozen times. His claim is utterly false. I ask him to show evidence to support it or rescind that accusation. “Concept of honor”? He would ask the same of me or anyone else who impugned his character this way. He’s got the logs. Let’s see his proof or even his suspicions. He’s blocked the entire 32 IP address block for my ISP business, and my customers can’t read B&S. Like any blog, B&S isn’t free of sock puppets. E.g., on October 28 in the “Bad Dog” thread, an obvious sock puppet (or anonymous whistleblowing no-taxes patriot, if you prefer) mocks my comments and imitates my name, yet prompted no action by either jodphurs-loving admin. Of kourse, I komment on Owen’s komments on my Boots and Kittens blog.
This teacher was a fool for what he did, no doubt. Should’ve known better. Didn’t help his cause. Needs to practice his parody skills. I predict the Milwaukee Conservative Chorus will be all about the “liberal” plaster. Has anyone presented evidence of this teacher’s political leanings, or is it just assumed? Wouldn’t it be possible for him to vote Republican, yet be in favor of the referendum or defend teacher’s salaries and bennies? It’s so much easier to think when all you have to do is say “liberal” and be done with it.
I also presume the anti-conservative bloggers will do a great job of hunting down similarly outrageous threats made by bloggers and kommenters. I’m heading to Texas right now!
December 1st, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Drive safely John and please don’t hurry back on account of us!
December 1st, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Sorry, Mickey, I meant that I’m heading over to Peter’s blog to hunt for similar outrageous statements. I’m in the snow like everyone else.
December 2nd, 2007 at 11:42 am
Pete – As I’m sure you know, but other might not, an IP address alone is easily dodged by a good defense attorney, until you find better evidence from a particular computer that pins a particular person to it at a particular time. Every Internet customer gets a number like 66.84.209.225 when they’re allowed on to the Internet. It’s a semi-unique identifier. It’s unique in the world to the Internet, but it’s not perfect. For example, everyone within a household almost certainly shares a single IP. Same for employees of a business behind a firewall. If you have an unsecured wireless access point at home, you can even try to argue that the comment was made was someone with a laptop parked outside your house, or a neighbor. Even that IP number probably changes at intervals unless you’re paying for business-class service, so you have to correlate it to the records of their ISP to know who had which number when.
A better topic to discuss: Should Owen have rolled so easily? Why not follow the rule of law and let the cop go to a judge to prove his case? Owen didn’t think the guy’s comments were a threat, well, because people talk like that all the time on B&S. He’s up in his tree stand getting Blackberry notifications? Or he’s answering his cell while hunting? Does this alone show a lack of judgment?
December 2nd, 2007 at 1:06 pm
No, John, he did what he thought was right and according to his standards. And no, people don’t talk like that all the time B&S, unless they are some kind of troll (you know what that is John, don’t you)or some kind of liberal union activist teacher, who gives other teachers a bad name.
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Actually, John, a better topic would be about your side’s feigned, manufactured victim status.
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Ya know what – B&S is Owen’s blog, just like this is Patrick’s. Anybody who posts on a blog they don’t own should consider their comment and whatever identification may go with them to be in the public domain.
December 2nd, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Dan, I agree, not all B&S visitors write so poorly. A minority do. As Owen put it, this guy was writing like a “right-wing whack job.”
Ron – My side’s feigned victim status? What’s that about?
December 3rd, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Former Waukesha D.A. Paul Bucher addresses this from the point of view of a prosecutor. Interesting stuff.