[Foundation-l] A Crime in Missouri

[Ray Saintonge]

Marc Riddell wrote:
> This is a question for you legal eagles out there:
>
> A town in Missouri (USA) has made on-line stalking and harassment a crime. I
> don't know much of the details, I just got it from CNN. But my question is,
> if the person charged an/or convicted of this crime were doing this in
> Wikipedia, or one of the other Projects, would the case involve us.
The first question that comes to my mind about this is one of 
jurisdiction.  Your use of the word "town" suggests that we are not even 
talking about one of the major cities in Missouri.  Small towns tend to 
have their rights to legislate defined by state law, and generally what 
they say cannot have have much effect beyond town limits.  For a town to 
pursue a case of international cyberstalking could break the town's 
budget.  Extradition for breach of a town's by-laws is an unlikely 
eventuality.

Ec