Lily Hay Newman reports:
On Tuesday, a 7-2 decision by the US Supreme Court reversed the conviction of a man who repeatedly threatened a stranger online. Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the majority opinion that First Amendment free speech protections require such cases to show that online harassers or cyberstalkers were aware that their digital abuse could be construed as threatening. Threats of violence are not protected by the First Amendment, but the court said prosecutors must show that a defendant “consciously disregarded a substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence.”
Read more at Wired.