If you’re in Tennessee, you probably want to stop using the internet right now, especially if you were thinking about posting, or even sending some manner of image, because you’re facing fines and potentially jail time. According to Engadget, “anyone who sends or posts an image online (and yes, that includes TwitPics) that they ‘reasonably should know’ would ’cause emotional distress’ could face several months in jail and thousands of dollars in fines.” I don’t know about you, but I’m emotionally distressed by images of waterskiing squirrels, so be warned Tennesseans–get that stuff out of my sight when I’m coming through or I’m filing charges.
Oh, and the maraschino cherry on this privacy-invasion banana split is that the law “seeks to circumvent restrictions on obtaining private messages and information from social networking sites without a search warrant.” And yet somehow, Tennessee placed 16th in the nation for being in an “index” of personal and economic freedom. Yes, I used the scare quotes deliberately.
