Trespassing on a public forum?

[evilevo8]

Is it possible to trespass on a public forum? Say there is a forum, just like this one where there is a member who gets into heated arguments with other members. After some warnings he/she gets banned along with his/her IP address. This person also has an IP that changes after every log in so that they are allowed back on the site to simply sign on again with a new name, which I imagine is quite easily done even on this site.

This person offers no threats of bodily harm, just flaming and does sometimes offer good info but is the kind that argues in a thread until it is ruined.

Is there any legal action that can be brought upon this person in the forum of trespassing or is he/she not trespassing since he/she is invited to rejoin at the login screen?


Again this person is not committing any real crimes, just a nuisance that keeps logging in because he/she has friends there and argues occasionally.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Is it possible to trespass on a public forum? Say there is a forum, just like this one where there is a member who gets into heated arguments with other members. After some warnings he/she gets banned along with his/her IP address. This person also has an IP that changes after every log in so that they are allowed back on the site to simply sign on again with a new name, which I imagine is quite easily done even on this site.

This person offers no threats of bodily harm, just flaming and does sometimes offer good info but is the kind that argues in a thread until it is ruined.

Is there any legal action that can be brought upon this person in the forum of trespassing or is he/she not trespassing since he/she is invited to rejoin at the login screen?


Again this person is not committing any real crimes, just a nuisance that keeps logging in because he/she has friends there and argues occasionally.

Yes - this is a "trespass." This theory has been used mostly in cases involving data miners and spiders that illegally trespass and pull information from a web site. However, prosecution is so difficult and not cost-effective that most try to ban IP addresses until the problem goes away. Sometimes complaining to an ISP about an abuser can also be an effective method of preventing the abuse.