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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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 Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 12:11 pm Post subject: Philly Man, Indicted For 'Harassing Email' |
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/25/bruce-shore-unemployed-ph_n_588798.html?ir=Business
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When Sen. Jim Bunning complained on the Senate floor in February that he'd missed the Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game because of a debate on unemployment benefits -- a debate the Kentucky Republican himself prevented from proceeding to a vote -- Bruce Shore got angry.
"I was livid. I was just livid," said Shore, 51, who watched the floor proceedings on C-SPAN from his home in Philadelphia. "I'm on unemployment, so it affects me. I'm in shock."
Instead of just being angry, Shore took action: He sent several emails to Bunning staffers, blasting the senator for blocking the benefits.
"ARE you'all insane," said part of one letter Shore sent on Feb. 26 (which he shared with HuffPost). "NO checks equal no food for me. DO YOU GET IT??"
In that letter he signed off as "Brad Shore" from Louisville. He said he did the same thing in several messages sent via the contact form on Bunning's website. "My assumption was that if he gets an email from Philadelphia, who cares?" he said. "Why would he even care if a guy from Philadelphia gets upset?"
Bunning might not have cared, but the FBI did. Sometime in March, said Shore, agents came calling to ask about the emails. They read from printouts and asked if Shore was the author, which he readily admitted. They asked a few questions, and then, according to Shore, they said, "All right, we just wanted to make sure it wasn't anything to worry about."
But on March 13, U.S. Marshals showed up at Shore's house with a grand jury indictment. Now he's got to appear in federal court in Covington, Ky. on May 28 to answer for felony email harassment. Specifically, the indictment (PDF) says that on Feb. 26, Shore "did utilize a telecommunications device, that is a computer, whether or not communication ensued, without disclosing his identity and with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, and harass any person who received the communication."
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Shore swears he didn't intend to make a threat. He thought sending angry letters to Congress was a First Amendment thing. "If I send 50 letters to Congress, is that illegal or is it just me wasting paper?"
Harvey Silverglate, a prominent civil liberties lawyer and the author of "Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent", has long argued that vague laws allow the federal government to prosecute citizens for things most people wouldn't consider crimes. (The message of his book's title is that the average person unintentionally commits three felonies a day. "Half of the anonymous Internet comments would" be illegal according to the statute used against Shore, said Silverglate.)
"If nothing else the U.S. Attorney has managed to harass a defendant. Now we have to find out if the defendant managed to harass anybody," said Silverglate, who looked at Shore's indictment. "When finally the government is forced by a judge's order to specify what the criminal harassment consisted of, if in fact the words used are quite innocuous and don't by any standard rise to the level of a real threat, it's going to be an example of exactly what my complaint is about."
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Shore said he's been unemployed for the past two years since losing his job as an office manager. He recently received his final unemployment check, joining the ranks of 35,200 Pennsylvanians and hundreds of thousands of Americans who've exhausted all their benefits. He said he used a credit card to book a hotel room in Covington for Friday.
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"I'm walking around in my head: jail for email, jail for email," he said. "At this point I'm just looking at my government and going, anything is possible. When do the adults wake up and say, 'This gentleman is just angry and frustrated?' I'm just speechless. Shocked. I probably dropped 10 pounds in a week. To think you turn your life around, you don't do anything wrong after you make a mistake when you were younger..." |
Don't talk back. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 1:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Of course, we would need to see the entire letter to judge if there was any threat. The snippet posted in the OP contains no threat. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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| "did utilize a telecommunications device, that is a computer, whether or not communication ensued, without disclosing his identity and with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, and harass any person who received the communication." |
How is an anonymous email sent with intent to annoy a felony? Hell, Dave's is a well-spring of felony is anonymously using a computer in attempt to annoy is a felony. |
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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: |
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| "did utilize a telecommunications device, that is a computer, whether or not communication ensued, without disclosing his identity and with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, and harass any person who received the communication." |
How is an anonymous email sent with intent to annoy a felony? Hell, Dave's is a well-spring of felony is anonymously using a computer in attempt to annoy is a felony. |
Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Hater Depot wrote: |
| Fox wrote: |
| Quote: |
| "did utilize a telecommunications device, that is a computer, whether or not communication ensued, without disclosing his identity and with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, and harass any person who received the communication." |
How is an anonymous email sent with intent to annoy a felony? Hell, Dave's is a well-spring of felony is anonymously using a computer in attempt to annoy is a felony. |
Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? |
Don't make me report you to Sen. Bunning. He doesn't tolerate this kind of tomfoolery. |
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Bramble
Joined: 26 Jan 2007
Location: National treasures need homes
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: |
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| "did utilize a telecommunications device, that is a computer, whether or not communication ensued, without disclosing his identity and with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, and harass any person who received the communication." |
How is an anonymous email sent with intent to annoy a felony? Hell, Dave's is a well-spring of felony is anonymously using a computer in attempt to annoy is a felony. |
For once we agree. |
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kabrams
Joined: 15 Mar 2008
Location: your Dad's house
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: |
| Quote: |
| "did utilize a telecommunications device, that is a computer, whether or not communication ensued, without disclosing his identity and with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, and harass any person who received the communication." |
How is an anonymous email sent with intent to annoy a felony? Hell, Dave's is a well-spring of felony is anonymously using a computer in attempt to annoy is a felony. |
Seriously!
I can't believe what's happening to that poor guy. |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 9:21 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't know what you guys are so up in a huff about. I find it incredibly reassuring that the law protects our elected leaders from annoyances like Mr. Shore. If it didn't, who knows how many precious basketball games they'd miss? |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 9:30 pm Post subject: |
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There is something in to learn from this:
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you.
Don't ever trust the police. Had he not talked to the FBI and remained silent they would not be able to charge him and I doubt if they (the FBI) could have gotten a court order to track down who was sending the emails.
The Senator is a public official he should expect angry people to say angry things to him. |
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