It might be flaming to you and me, but Texas student Jose Saavedra’s remarks have landed him with a charge of terrorism. Seemingly the first case whereby Internet chat has made someone liable to be charged, it is an important test case for the future of Internet newsgroups and perhaps even electronic mail. Saavedra, a 19-year-old student at the University of Texas in El Paso, has been charged with making a terrorist threat against California state senator Tim Leslie. He posted a message in March on an environmental and political discussion group where conservation of the wild cougar population was being discussed. Senator Leslie supported a measure, later defeated, to return to hunters the right to shoot the animals. Saavedra remarked on -line: I think it would be great if [Senator Leslie] were hunted down and skinned and mounted for our viewing pleasure. Under the code name Zuma, he posted another message a week later: Do I recommend that we hunt down and kill Tim Leslie and his family? No. Would I be happy if some nut actually did such a thing? Yes. Leslie complained. What is so sinister about using the Internet is how everyone is privy to it. People all over America are discussing my death threat. The law in California treats electronic words with equal weight to written or spoken ones and speech – in whichever of the forms – that seriously threatens is a crime and the case is likely to revolve around the seriously.
