Being a big believer in free speech, I'm going to have to be the devil's advocate for a moment and say coming on to a messageboard and posting some abortion pictures could be illegal is really hard pressed.
Is it right? Hell no, he needs to be banned and reported to his ISP for spamming.
But cybercrime divisoin? Come on..
Don't get me wrong I'm just as pissed off as everyone else about this kind of shit, but at the same time, what he's doing isn't really illegal. It's just wrong and bad taste.
Free speech will only take you so far. Let's say I keep ringing you up and shouting obscenities. You tell me to stop. I don't. You block my number and I call from a different phone. At some point my actions become stalking and/or harrassment. Last I checked, those were real crimes.
I see no significant difference between that and what Crowley is doing here.
Or even better, let's say someone is posting this graphic pictures on your lawn for anyone to see who chooses to drive by your house. Sure, people don't have to see the pictures unless they choose to drive by your house and look, but it's your property and you should be able to choose who does or does not put things in your yard. If it's against your will, that's vandalism and it
is illegal.
The 'net hasn't developed quite to the point of having virtual vandalism laws yet, but the principle applies. Someone is a private owner of this site, and they have chosen certain rules to apply to it. If someone is violating those rules and vandalizing the website, then yes, that
is a cybercrime.
If you own the domain and the server, you can post whatever you want. That's free speech. If you own your yard, you can post whatever you want (though we're possibly getting into public decency laws, such as indecent exposure and such). Again, free speech.
But no, this case doesn't apply as a true censorship incident.
