Federal judge dismisses case involving Buddhists on Twitter
The New York Times reports today on the outcome of a federal criminal case brought against William Lawrence Cassidy by Alyce Zeoli, who is better known as Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo — a recognized tulku within the Palyul lineage of the Nyingma Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Spiritual Director for Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Choling, and subject of Martha Sherrill's popular book The Buddha from Brooklyn.
Cassidy had been accused of causing Zeoli "substantial emotional distress" after publishing over 8,000 tweets and blog posts about her. (The Times quotes one example: "Do the world a favor and go kill yourself. P.S. Have a nice day.") Judge Roger W. Titus has dismissed the case, noting that "the government's indictment here is directed squarely at protected speech: anonymous, uncomfortable Internet speech addressing religious matters." As the Times points out, the case had "potentially
far-reaching consequences for freedom of expression on the Internet," and was being watched closely for this reason; they had previously reported on the case at the beginning, focusing closely on this aspect.
Comments
Post a Comment