Right Wing Bloggers strike a blow against free speech in MD

[font size= 3]Maryland Circuit Court Ruling Could Shut Down Twitter, End Online Journalism[/font]



WESTMINSTER, MD – June 14 – A Carroll County, Md., Circuit Court judge issued a ruling today that could have the effect of shutting down Twitter and all online journalism.

Judge Thomas F. Stansfield ruled that using the popular social media‘s “@mention” feature was the same thing as sending a direct message. The ruling came at the end of a two-hour hearing in which William John Joseph Hoge of Westminster, Md., appealed the ruling of two previous district court judges denying his request for peace orders against Bill Schmalfeldt,a freelance broadcaster and journalist living in Elkridge, Md. Hoge argued that by including “@WJJHoge” in his tweets, Schmalfeldt was — in effect — sending messages directly to Mr. Hoge.

Schmalfeldt argued that using the “@mention” feature on Twitter is not the same thing as sending a direct message, and that the person mentioned in the reply had the opportunity to take two seconds to “block” the offending “tweeter.” “He never has to read a word I write,” Schmalfeldt said. “All he has to do is block me, and I don’t exist as far as he’s concerned.”

Under direct questioning, Hoge admitted he chose to not “block” Schmalfeldt’s Twitter feed, “Because I like to see what he’s writing about.”



The judge’s ruling could have a chilling effect on the social media giant. With this precedent being set, any person on Twitter who wishes to silence an opponent only needs to file a peace order (or restraining order) against the individual and thus ensure that the person is unable to use the full features available on Twitter.

Schmalfeldt suffers from Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological condition that forced him to retire from his position as a writer/editor with the National Institutes of Health in 2011. Now a freelance broadcaster and journalist, Schmalfeldt testified that the “@mention” function was not a “direct messaging” tool — Twitter has a “direct message” feature. He said by using “@WJJHoge” in his tweets, he was sending messages that would show up in the Twitter “timelines” of anyone who was interested in news about Mr. Hoge. “I’ve only used it to respond to lies Hoge tells about me on his blog, because Hoge does not allow me to correct his lies in the comment section of his blog,” Schmalfeldt said.

“It’s not hard to imagine that once the word of this ruling gets out, anyone engaged in a ‘flame war’ with someone on Twitter could march down to the court house and take out criminal charges against the person who wrote the offending Tweet,” Schmalfeldt said. He said he believed this would have the effect of ending freedom of speech on Twitter.

“Flame wars have just been deemed illegal,” Schmalfeldt said of the ruling. “Any person who finds a journalist’s questions to be ‘annoying’ can now demand that the journalist stop all contact and then file criminal charges against the journalist if he or she continues to pursue a story.”

Judge Stansfield said Schmalfeldt’s responses to the things Hoge had written about him on his blog, using the “@mention” feature, rose to the level of harassment under Maryland law. In his testimony, Hoge said that the reason Carroll County’s States Attorney threw out four previous criminal charges against Schmalfeldt were a result of the two previous district court rulings denying his peace order requests.

Writing about Mr. Schmalfeldt’s comments about today’s hearing on his blog, Mr. Hoge offered the following comment:

“Bullshit!”

The ruling forbids Schmalfeldt from contacting Hoge in any fashion for six months.

Source: http://patriot-ombudsman.com/2734/maryland-circuit-court-ruling-could-shut-down-twitter