Woe to the Internet Stalkers that feel the need to impersonate someone else. As of March 8, 2012 The Arizona Senate has amended HB 2461 (Prior Felony Conviction; definition) with a Strike Everything amendment and replaced it with this text entitled 13-2012 Online Impersonation; defenses;classification; definitions.
Essentially, this "new" bill defines the act of Cyber Impersonation as a crime as long as the basic Rule of Law is applied as to the intent of the impersonation - attempting to defraud, threaten, coerce, harm, etc.
At first read, and only holding to my (very) basic knowledge of the law, what this bills intent is to include Online activities into the already established methods of communication. Remember that the Law MUST be specific as to prevent the willy-nilly interpretation by the Courts, yet must be flexible enough to respond to the changes due to passage of time and society's advancement thereof.
Now, there are some who will decry the over regulation by "Big Brother" and will wail abut the violation of their First Amendment rights and the supression of Free Speech. Au Contrair, mon ami! The Test of Law has always stated that any speech that was intended to Harm, Deceive, or Commit Crimes, is NOT "protected speech" (yelling "fire!" in a crowded theater jumps to mind, but can we start applying that rule to Campaign speeches? Please?).
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