A Blogging Saga of Harassment, and Consequences

I am by temperament and inclination  in sympathy with a more lady like version of the historic, mythic warrior queen Boudica more than the fragile and ineffective Blanche duBois of Tennessee Williams 'Streetcar Named Desire', ( relying on "the kindness of strangers").  But I also pride myself on having the patience to work gently when dealing with uncooperative animals, small children, difficult elderly people with dementia, but I have reached the limit of my patience in dealing with the chronically difficult when it comes to blogging.
Not for lack of effort, I would underline.  I have tried I really have; and I hate the idea of causing trouble for anyone with their employer, if at all possible. 
Sometimes it is not possible.
Here on Penigma we have too long tolerated a nuisance commenter who has been banned, but who persists in making offensive, stupid, and far too frequent comments that need to be deleted.  Or more recently, saved in a file, and forwarded to the IP provider security manager. 
We use a service that provides information similar to that provided by some blogging platforms and other similar companies; in our case we use Statcounter.com.  That documents who reads, in a general non-identifying way, where they are located, what pages or posts, etc.  It is incomplete information, but it can be a helpful indicator to know what topics or posts are popular, what previous sites might have directed a reader to your blog, and so on.  Total visits for example, reflect not the visits ever, but the visits in a short amount of time, a few days, tracked by statcounter for that IP address.
The entry looks like this:

7 (3 this visit) Entry Page Time: 17 May 2012 10:04:22 Visit Length: 3 mins 6 secs Browser: IE 7.0 OS: WinXP Resolution: 1024x768

Total Visits: 9 Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States IP Address: Level 3 Communications (208.xx.xxx.xx) Search Referral: www.google.com — penigma Entry Page: penigma.blogspot.com/ Exit Page: penigma.blogspot.com/2012/05/laugh-cry-repeat.html

and the 'magnify user' feature provides a map that supplements the location information, as well as information identifying the host source, the entity to whom the IP belongs or is leased:

Host Name:				mailout.sxxxxxx.net

Obviously, I've redacted this information.  The corporation which owns the IP is able to check to confirm that it is their IP address that is leased, which is the reason for contacting them.
We have had brief problems in the past.  Earlier this year, a particularly offensive comment was left that contained an extremely violent message advocating sexual assault for example.  In that case, the commenter, Ser8d, was banned.  He was also unwise enough to make that comment from his employer.  We contacted the IP owner, and the host owner - the employer - and provided to them the copies of the message, along with another message, and the stat counter information.
The only reason I happen to know what the outcome of that incident was is that it turned out the host / employer had not one, but TWO people who were visiting our blog.  I was asked by the polite, non sexual assault comment individual, through an email, please to vouch that he had not been offensive (although I suspect he was still in at least a little trouble for net surfing and blog reading instead of working).  The 'good' blog reader asked me to vouch for him, so he wouldn't lose his job; it was also informative that although both readers worked for the same employer, neither had known the other, even though they had both commented on similar posts at around the same time.  So I'm well aware that even a single ill-advised comment, if it is bad enough, can result in some fairly serious consequences.  I don't know if the person who goes by Ser8d WAS fired, or if he persuaded his employer to give him a second chance; but I do know that he has not been a problem on this blog, and has been much more self-controlled and civil on other blogs where I have been either an author or commenter.  I'd bet he also isn't reading blogs on his employer's time anymore either.
The IP from which this unwise but persistent person continued to operate despite many warnings to cease and desist, both public and private was Level 3 Communications.  They provide the internet and phone service to the harassers employer.  Yes, this guy was careless and unwise enough to make at least some of those annoying and harassing visits from the internet access where he works, a company with a name that begins with an 'S' and ends with 'ions', from their St. Paul location.
One of our co-bloggers here on Penigma is also an attorney, who having both author and admin privileges, has had access to the unposted comments.  At his direction, both Penigma and I have contacted our appropriate law enforcement entities, to document the problem.  That was also a requirement of the IP owner for us and for them to proceed.  
Next week comes the official Cease and Desist letters demanding the employer and IP provider stop enabling this person to use their facilities for harassment.  And yes, the comments do appear to more than rise to the level of harassment, both in frequency and in content.  Because the problem, at least in this case, appears to involve more than one internet access source, the appropriate complaint personnel of those internet providers will be identified next, and similar letters sent, and more involvement with law enforcement.
After that, if the problem still continues --- and realistically, it might --- we can look forward to contacting law enforcement to make a call on the harasser, directing him to stop, and we can look forward to going to court for a formal restraining order (so we were advised by Law Enforcement).
I would have much preferred NOT to make a complaint to someone's employer; I believe it is important to act with kindness and forbearance whenever possible, but some people don't leave a lot of choices, when they make their choices to act outside acceptable conduct.
Being harassed, having people behave badly is not unique to one side or the other of the political spectrum; sadly, bad behavior can come from either side.  But in pushing back against that behavior, in condemning it, as we should regardless of the political or other views of anyone who behaves this way, we are also promoting the free and civil exchange of ideas.  There is room to be sharp, or even a little snarky towards concepts, towards the personas of public figures.  But there are limits, there are boundaries and that line is the same line that defines threats, that defines sexual harassment, that defines defamation, libel, and slander.  That line is the same line that defines the boundaries of hate speech as well.
I will post updates here as this incident of pursuing the consequences of harassment in the wonderful world of the blogosphere unfolds.  Hopefully my experience, and that of my co-bloggers, in dealing with this might prove helpful to any other readers or bloggers who encounter this problem.  I would encourage bloggers to be proactive to stop the conduct, rather than simply tolerate unacceptable behavior on your blogs -- WHATEVER positions you hold in the political spectrum, left, right, or center.  'Unacceptable' means precisely that; that we do not simply let it go, accept it as inevitable, or tolerate it as unavoidable.  It is how we make a more civilized world for ourselves and others.
Edmund Burke, sometimes described as the father of conservativism, is supposed to have made the statement that "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing.", but that is a disputed statement.  That it is disputed as coming from Burke does not make it less true.  What Burke DID say however, that was correctly attributed and particularly apt to this situation, were the following three quotations:

Manners are of more importance than laws. The law can touch us here and there, now and then. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation like that of the air we breathe in.

There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.

A very great part of the mischiefs that vex the world arises from words.

It is important when we hold opinions, even strong opinions, that we try to reach out to the opposition; and it is then perhaps more important than other times to do onto others as you would have them do onto you.  But sometimes you have to stop that 'doing onto you', and are not given a lot of choice in how to proceed by the choices THEY make.  Wish us luck, as the Saga progresses.  I am perhaps overly optimistic, but I still hope for a less drastic resolution to this problem.