US Supreme Court to Rule if Threats on Facebook Are Free Speech.

US Supreme Court to Rule if Threats on Facebook Are Free Speech.(NDtv).

The US Supreme Court said on Monday it would rule on whether violent threats posted on social media could merit criminal charges, or whether they are protected as free speech.

The nine justices of the nation's top court said they would take on the case of Anthony Elonis, a Pennsylvania resident sentenced to four years in jail and three years supervised release over threatening messages he posted on Facebook.

The messages, including death threats against his ex-wife, were written in the style of rap lyrics.

In the appeal, which will be taken up in the fall, the court said it will consider whether "conviction of threatening another person ... requires proof of the defendant's subjective intent to threaten."

Elonis has said he never seriously intended to make an attempt on his ex-wife's life or carry out any of the other threats, without proof of such an intent, criminalising his Facebook posts violates his First Amendment right to free speech.

In the appeal to the Supreme Court, his lawyers explain that, after his wife suddenly left with their two children, Elonis, then 27, fell into a depression and was fired from the amusement park where he worked.

On December 8, 2010, he was charged with threatening clients and employees of the park, threats against his ex-wife, against police officers and an FBI agent, as well as threats involving a preschool class.

In the appeal, the defendant asked the top court to clarify the law in question. He argues courts are "divided over whether the First Amendment's 'true threat' exception requires proof that a defendant prosecuted for making a threatening statement subjectively intended to threaten another person."

RCMP ‘to ease Canadians into the idea’ of U.S. agents in Canada.

                                                         Full seize map here.


RCMP ‘to ease Canadians into the idea’ of U.S. agents in Canada.(Yahoo).Uncle Sam could soon be coming after you on Canadian soil.According to an article in Embassy Magazine, the Harper government is moving forward on several initiatives that could give U.S. FBI and DEA agents the ability to pursue suspects in Canada.But, according to a RCMP officer, they're doing it in "baby steps.""We recognized early that this approach would raise concerns about sovereignty, of privacy, and civil liberties of Canadians," RCMP Chief Superintendent Joe Oliver, the Mounties' director general for border integrity, told the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence on May 14.
"We said 'Let's take baby steps, let's start with two agencies to test the concept, let's demonstrate to Canadians and Americans that such an approach might work."

Baby step 1, according to Embassy Magazine, has already happened in the form cross border pilot projects allowing Canadian and American agents in each others waters.

Step 2 is the 'Shiprider' program which will make it permanently legal for U.S. agents to be certified as police in Canadian waters. This is on track to be passed into law by the Harper government's omnibus budget bill, C-38.

And step 3, is to roll out cross-border policing over land.

Embassy also notes that the government is not ruling out U.S. aerial surveillance over Canadian land.These initiatives are part of the much-touted perimeter security initiative between Washington and Ottawa, designed to provide a thicker wall of security around the continent while easing trade barriers at the borders.Critics have bemoaned the loss of Canada's jurisdiction and sovereignty over the new policing measures but Canadian officials insist it's needed."Criminals are exploiting the fact that we have to respect our boundaries and we have to stop at the border," Oliver said.Hmmmmm...........Will the Canadians living close to the U.S. Border also loose their rights under the U.S. NDAA laws?Read the full story here.