I think the context and outcome matter. Watts made his statement literally on the public square, during discussion after a political rally and the context of his remarks was the draft (in a highly controversial war) and racial inequality. It doesn't get more 'statement of political dissent' than that. What happened to him was unquestionably outrageous and a gross violation of his civil liberties - he was reported by an agent of the Army Counterintelligence Corps who was present(!!) and then charged and convicted.
How well does this case compare? Some asshats on a fringe forum mouthed off about murdering a judge because they didn't like the judge's verdict. I'd bet that then some other, similarly judgement-impaired indivdual reported them to the authorities. What follows is predictable - said authorities, ever paranoid of being accused of having failed to 'connect the dots', put the gears in motion resulting in silly subpoenas, some dickish behaviour by a federal prosecutor and a publication's inability to talk about the investigation for two weeks. Potentially, some imprudent ranters might get to chat with an FBI agent of which nothing will come.
I'm not trying to argue this is somehow an awesome outcome or that it doesn't, once again, highlight some worrisome problems with the power of prosecutors and its potential for abuse. But I just don't see the outrageous abuse of civil liberties, chilling effect, etc the tone of all of popehat's writing on the topic implies.
I don't think it's unreasonable to recognize the problem law enforcement, investigators, procecutors face in such situations - while zillions of internet hyperventilators fill message boards with their threatening but ultimately harmless nonsense, so do the microscopic minority who actually turn out to be violent. Is this incentive to over-react exacerbated by imbalances in prosecutorial power, other systemic issues? Sure. Does this case represent some outrageous assault on civil liberties? Is it entirely trivial to identify 'true' threats on internet message boards by applying a well-reasoned list of bulleted criteria? I'm not convinced of either of those things, at least, not yet.
Ken at Popehat isn't simply angry because a prosecutor is investigating clearly hyperbolic comments on a message board. He's angry because the prosecutor needlessly (and, as it turned out, pointlessly) imposed a gag order on Reason.
The investigation itself was dumb and, I think, a bit abusive. The gag order though was clearly abusive.
If that's abuse "how can you take the abuse you get on a sit?" Ok, I'll take his expert word that the gag order was plainly abusive.
Watts speaking at the Washington monument vs Watts saying something similar at an underground Panthers meeting where everyone is armed to the teeth - trivial distinction to make. Idiot talks shit on the internet? I don't think it's trivial to make the distinction. In fact, that's the exact ambiguity anonymous internet jerks rely on to try to intimidate, say, women whose views they don't like.
But, in the interests of brevity, I'm willing to concede the possibility I'm the proverbial frog blissfully swimming in the cauldron of an imminently boiling police state, suitably seasoned with a generous helping of obviously untrue threats.
How well does this case compare? Some asshats on a fringe forum mouthed off about murdering a judge because they didn't like the judge's verdict. I'd bet that then some other, similarly judgement-impaired indivdual reported them to the authorities. What follows is predictable - said authorities, ever paranoid of being accused of having failed to 'connect the dots', put the gears in motion resulting in silly subpoenas, some dickish behaviour by a federal prosecutor and a publication's inability to talk about the investigation for two weeks. Potentially, some imprudent ranters might get to chat with an FBI agent of which nothing will come.
I'm not trying to argue this is somehow an awesome outcome or that it doesn't, once again, highlight some worrisome problems with the power of prosecutors and its potential for abuse. But I just don't see the outrageous abuse of civil liberties, chilling effect, etc the tone of all of popehat's writing on the topic implies.
I don't think it's unreasonable to recognize the problem law enforcement, investigators, procecutors face in such situations - while zillions of internet hyperventilators fill message boards with their threatening but ultimately harmless nonsense, so do the microscopic minority who actually turn out to be violent. Is this incentive to over-react exacerbated by imbalances in prosecutorial power, other systemic issues? Sure. Does this case represent some outrageous assault on civil liberties? Is it entirely trivial to identify 'true' threats on internet message boards by applying a well-reasoned list of bulleted criteria? I'm not convinced of either of those things, at least, not yet.