Re: hoaxed?

[Martin Waters <martinjwaters@yahoo.com>]

> --- Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com> wrote:
> <snip>
> Of 
> > course, the most egregious hoax I can think of was
> > when then-WAAF team Opie 
> > and Anthony reported that the mayor of Boston had
> > been killed in a car 
> > accident.  I guess they thought that was quite
> > funny, but Mayor Menino's 
> > family was not amused, especially since the family
> > thought it was true and 
> > they panicked till they found out it was just a
> > hoax.  In an era when 
> > nothing is sacred, do you think such hoaxes are
> > becoming more common, and 
> > should there be any consequences?
>
 
    Medium security federal prison for a year or two.
The law should prohibit hoaxes that tend to create
fear, etc., among the general public or that cause
emotional distress, etc., (already well-defined in
other laws) to individuals, such as the Menino family.
It's in the area of the
can't-shout-fire-in-a-crowded-theater principle of
free-speech law. Anyway, isn't there something in the
communications act that might be applied to these
cases, if we lived in a world in which there was any
meaningful regulation of the use of the public's
airwaves?

    In a case like the Meninos', it also seems as
though a strong civil suit could be brought under
existing law -- emotional distress, damage to
reputation, etc. 

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