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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Then they came for the pranksters

Then they came for the pranksters

by | 46 Comments

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That didn’t take long (via):

Although representatives deny any connection to the recent prank call on the governor, two legislators began circulating a bill Monday that would ban making trick calls masking the caller’s true identity.

Sen. Mary Lazich, R-Waukesha, and Rep. Mark Honadel, R-Milwaukee, authored a bill that would prohibit tricking the call’s recipient into believing the caller is someone they are not for malicious purposes.

“While use of spoofing is said to have some legitimate uses, it can also be used to frighten, harass and potentially defraud,” Lazich and Honadel said in an e-mail to legislators.

But as long as it’s still legal for Republicans to dress as pimps and plot the rape of CNN reporters, This Republic remains free!

Reader Interactions

46Comments

  2. 2.

    David Koch

    We won’t be safe until we ban prank identities on the twitter machine.

    Look at how badly Mayor Rahm and BP where treated with fake accounts.

  6. 6.

    Dave

    Is proving Walker is a paid employee of the Koch Brothers considered “malicious”? I’d say it’s a god-damned public service.

  10. 10.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Oh, for fuck’s sake. First, I guess there are a lot of 11 year olds who are going to jail. Second, Walker was gullible and fell for a prank. Deal with it. Fucking pathetic. Whiny assholes.

  11. 11.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @stuckinred: I think he is real. I mean, he says all the right things. Why would he do that if he wasn’t real? A joke? A parody? Nah… Not on this blog.

  12. 12.

    Linnaeus

    I am outraged at this blatant attempt to expand the oppressive power of Big Government.

  13. 13.

    Gin & Tonic

    Speaking of pranksters, GOS is reporting that the moron from HBGary Federal has been canned. Anonymous is completely responsible for that scalp.

  17. 17.

    Zifnab

    So what happens if you prank call from out of state? Do we need to get the FBI involved?

  18. 18.

    Jay in Oregon

    @gwangung:

    “Hey, how about I call you an idiot in public, and you can convict me for revealing state secrets.”
    — Matthew Stoner to Michael Garibaldi, Babylon 5

  21. 21.

    Ash Can

    Methinks a couple of Republican WI state legislators need to be on the lookout the next few days for phone calls involving prominent right wingers, Oliver Klozoff, or running refrigerators.

  23. 23.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Omnes Omnibus: We had an actual Michael Hunt here at my school years ago, and at the same time an AFS student named Horst Schmidt.

    Afternoon announcements were a hoot, some days.

  24. 24.

    jibeaux

    “to frighten, harass, and potentially defraud”

    Well, we already have handy laws for fraud and threats, as well as restraining orders. Unless the governor was more scared than he let on, I don’t see how the Buffalo Beast’s phone call would even fall into any of those categories. I don’t personally consider letting the public know what a douchebag a public official is a “malicious purpose.” But have fun with the litigation resulting from trying to enforce such a vague, overbroad, and Constitutionally dubious law.

  29. 29.

    Jay in Oregon

    Will the distinguished Representative Heywood Jablome be signing on as a co-sponsor?

  31. 31.

    jibeaux

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Yep. But I don’t think a court would ever get to the Constitutional implications, because it’s got to get over tiny hurdles such as defining “malicious purposes” first.

  32. 32.

    Kryptik

    @JenJen:

    Like I noted above on this exact same thing, CNN has the utmost faith in Erickson’s unimpeachable civility.

    Which gives you a sense of where things are skewed.

  33. 33.

    PIGL

    then too, there’s the noble and highly Republican industry of collections. Let’s just put them out of business, shall we?

    Thot not.

  34. 34.

    shawntos

    Oh my God! What will happen to The Jerky Boys? Will the FBI come after Sol Rosenberg and Frank Rizzo?

    See ya later there Jerky.

  41. 41.

    Dave N.

    How would this even be enforced? By tapping every phone in the state?

    And then there is this little nugget: “However, law enforcement and government regulatory agents who use phone spoofing to fight crime would be exempt from the law.”

    Limited government at its finest – they can prank call us, but it is illegal for us to prank call them.

  43. 43.

    mds

    @prince albert:

    Oh, can it, albert.

    But as long as it’s still legal for Republicans to dress as pimps and plot the rape of CNN reporters,

    James O’Keefe’s actions were illegal, he’s just not being held accountable for them. Now don’t you feel better?

  45. 45.

    Rekster

    Next bill will be banning calls asking: “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” and “Is your refrigerator running?”.

    The Republican Party also known as the No Sense of Humor Party.

  46. 46.

    Petorado

    Well this proposed law will keep the hardened criminals off the streets … and more importantly, off of my lawn! Republican win!

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