On Monday morning, the Supreme Court will hear a landmark case about threats on the Internet.
The case, Elonis v. U.S., centers on a man who wrote violent, profane rants about his wife and co-workers on his Facebook page, which landed him in jail. But the man, Anthony Elonis, claims that the threats were never meant to be serious and instead should have been viewed in the same category as rap lyrics from Eminem or equally provocative musicians.
{mosads}Elonis has won the support of free speech advocates, journalist groups and protest organizations ranging from People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to the anti-abortion-rights Pro-Life Action League, who worry that upholding the punishment would threaten the First Amendment.
They argue that prosecutors should have to prove that someone making a threat actually intended to carry it out. That requirement is especially important in the Internet age, they argue, as the options for people to communicate with the world have skyrocketed.
On the other end of the argument, the Obama administration and anti-domestic-violence advocates argue that making a threat is a crime in and of itself, regardless of the person’s actual intent, because it invokes fear in those targeted.
Lower courts have been split on the issue, which puts the Supreme Court in a position to lay new ground rules.
On Thursday, three senators will deliver the keynote remarks at a half-day conference on the Internet of Things.
Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) will take the stage at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s Center for Data Innovation event to talk about the rise of connected devices such as “smart” thermostats, cars and refrigerators. The three senators are all members of the Senate Commerce Committee and have previously urged the panel to hold a hearing on the growth of the new technology.
“The proliferation of connected products is sparking a number of important policy questions related to consumer protection, security, privacy, technical standards, spectrum capacity, manufacturing, regulatory certainty, and public-sector applications, among many others,” they wrote to committee leaders last month.
Schatz and Fischer on Thursday will focus on policy questions surrounding the new technology, aides said, and what they can mean for U.S. businesses.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has explored the topic before, but Congress has yet to weigh in.
The Consumer Electronics Association is holding a lunchtime Senate briefing on recycling of consumer electronics and cathode ray tubes on Monday.
Fischer is slated to receive a public service award on Tuesday, during the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies’s annual telecoms symposium in downtown Washington.
Former Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.), former Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), Center for Democracy and Technology President Nuala O’Connor and Michael Powell, the former Federal Communications Commission chairman and current head of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, will also discuss policy priorities for 2015 during the half-day event.
That morning, FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright will join a Federalist Society event outlining current issues in the patent world.
Later on Tuesday, Microsoft is holding a forum on privacy and education.
On Wednesday morning, the newest commissioner at the FTC, Terrell McSweeny, takes the stage at an International Association of Privacy Professionals event on “practical privacy.” McSweeny, who was sworn in as the commission’s fifth member in April, “will talk about her priorities for the coming term” and take questions from the audience, the privacy industry group said.
The FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau and other officials from throughout the government, tech sector and legal world will also talk about privacy and data security at the event.
On Thursday, the centrist policy outlet Republic 3.0 will host a Capitol Hill panel discussion on “progressive perspectives” for Congress’s upcoming work rewriting the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Boucher, who played a major role in writing the 1996 law, will deliver opening remarks.
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— Updated at 5:49 p.m. to correct information about the Internet of Things event.