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Arizona Politician Parodied By Fake Twitter Accounts Pushes Bill To Make Online Impersonation A Felony
from the be-careful-who-you-parody dept
It's become quite common these days to see people set up "fake" social network profiles for certain people as a way to parody them. There have been a few lawsuits here and there over such fake profiles, but should they be a crime? As noted by the Citizen Media Law Project, Arizona State Representative Michelle Ugenti has proposed a bill that would make it a class 5 felony to impersonate someone online "with the intent to harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten." That last part, obviously, limits the purely parodical accounts, but the definitions of those words could be quite broad, and the risk of an overly broad interpretation is quite real. Considering that class 5 felonies in Arizona come with a "presumptive sentence of a year and a half imprisonment," you would hope that the definitions here would be a lot clearer.
Of course, as the CMLP article notes, you have to wonder if Ugenti proposed this bill for personal reasons -- seeing as there are some parody twitter accounts for her, specifically @RubbingUGently and @RepMUgenti. It seems that Rep. Ugenti got some attention for snapping at a bunch of students, who would be charged $2,000 more (regardless of their financial aid setup) to attend university in the state, "welcome to life," and for making a hacky masturbation joke during committee hearings. If you want, the quip is at 2:14:30, and involves another committee member asking how long the hearings are going to run, and saying that he has "a hot date" that he wants to get to, leading her to say: "No you don't. Stop it. Your right hand doesn't count." All clearly overheard on microphone.
Would those parody accounts be subject to this new law? CMLP suggests they would likely be protected under the First Amendment, but of course, it could involve a long and convoluted trial to prove that point. Just the threat of jail time could create serious chilling effects on parody speech. As for Rep. Ugenti being concerned about fake Twitter and Facebook profiles, perhaps she should take her own advice: "welcome to life."
Of course, as the CMLP article notes, you have to wonder if Ugenti proposed this bill for personal reasons -- seeing as there are some parody twitter accounts for her, specifically @RubbingUGently and @RepMUgenti. It seems that Rep. Ugenti got some attention for snapping at a bunch of students, who would be charged $2,000 more (regardless of their financial aid setup) to attend university in the state, "welcome to life," and for making a hacky masturbation joke during committee hearings. If you want, the quip is at 2:14:30, and involves another committee member asking how long the hearings are going to run, and saying that he has "a hot date" that he wants to get to, leading her to say: "No you don't. Stop it. Your right hand doesn't count." All clearly overheard on microphone.
Would those parody accounts be subject to this new law? CMLP suggests they would likely be protected under the First Amendment, but of course, it could involve a long and convoluted trial to prove that point. Just the threat of jail time could create serious chilling effects on parody speech. As for Rep. Ugenti being concerned about fake Twitter and Facebook profiles, perhaps she should take her own advice: "welcome to life."
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The winning move here would be to make fun along with the parodies and get a lot more accepted for being easy going and reasonable. But no. Carreon, meet Ugenti.
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Should the bill pass to law, she'll be charged the class 5 felony for parodying a government official, whose responsibility is to serve the public, not herself.
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Fuck You Ugenti !!! Hope to see a Million Ugenti Fake Parodies !
But better yet I hope to see a lot of the GOP losing Seats in the next Election.
They have become a great impediment to our Freedom.
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Impersonation
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Re: Impersonation
COME AT ME SIS
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Sounds like California's Statute ...
528.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person who knowingly and without consent credibly impersonates another actual person through or on an Internet Web site or by other electronic means for purposes of harming, intimidating, threatening, or defrauding another person is guilty of a public offense punishable pursuant to subdivision (d).
I haven't heard any stories of abuse of the statute, but then I haven't been looking.
A few weeks ago, I would have thought it not likely ripe for prosecutorial abuse. Not so much now.
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Re: Sounds like California's Statute ...
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Re: Then she would go to prison...
How do idiots like this get elected? Shame on those of you who voted for her.
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Overkill?
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hmmm
Basically Rep. Ugenti would rather be punched in the face (misdemeanor assault)than made fun of on a fake twitter account.
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Re: hmmm
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I mean really, his job is to make decisions that is in the best interest of Americans and not himself..
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They often enjoy belittling the small people and it should be high treason if someone belittles her.
I look forward to even more accounts coming out of the woodwork, and her wasting more taxpayer time and money trying to make it criminal to mock her.
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Sorry, the SC all ready ruled against such a law
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Instead, this lawmaker is going to end up wasting taxpayer dollars on a law that will be struck down by the Federal courts.
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Fortunately, statutes aren't copyrighted…
Please see this and this.
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