No More Ironic Twitter Handles?

Choire Sicha reacts to California's new law in which "it's now illegal to impersonate people online for nefarious purposes":

I mean the good news is that bad things will have a legal foothold: most online impersonation and harassment seems to be part of larger campaign of harassing and/or attacking women. So for purposes of like, harm as in stalking? Good! But harm as in "brand dilution"that is what will be prosecuted. Of course there is no carve-out for playful, political or non-murderous uses of online impersonation, and so, before this winds up in courts for refinement, it certainly seems like a stepping stone to our future regulated online identities. Just go ahead and trademark yourself now and get it over withthat way you don't have to wait for the law to catch up to your personal brand online.

2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan