LEGISLATION
Louisiana House Bill 1259: Imposing Content-Based Restrictions on Protected Speech
Louisiana's HB 1259 creates the crime of "cyberbullying" - the name given to the sometimes excessive threatening and taunting young people often do to one another online. While Media Coalition in no way intends to trivialize the experiences of those hurt by cyberbullies, we cannot let Louisiana's attempt to stop it off the hook simply because HB 1259 aims at an unpopular and potentially harmful target. The bill clearly tramples on constitutional protections that could affect speech emitted not just by particular people but displayed on film and in books as well.
HB 1259 would make it a crime to transmit electronically any communication intended to "coerce," "abuse," intimidate," "harass," "frighten," "embarrass," or "cause emotional distress to another person." The bill not only leaves these terms vague and undefined but also fails to limit its scope to vulnerable populations like teenagers or to one-on-one communications. Should gamers be disallowed from chiding their losing opponents? Should scary stories be banned from mass emails around Halloween? Is there not a way to protect teenagers from serious threats without criminalizing whole categories of speech?
Media Coalition hopes so. On April 19, 2010, we sent a letter to HB 1259's sponsor, Rep. Roy Burrell, and his colleagues on the House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice. We clearly stated that the bill was unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. As evidenced by our assertion that certain categories of speech do fall within the purview of criminal statutes, Louisiana has the ability to combat cyberbullying without chilling speech. Media Coalition encourages them to do so.
updated 4/19/10
Copyright © 2012 Media Coalition
19 Fulton Street, Suite 407 New York, NY 10038 | Tel: 212-587-4025 Fax: 212-587-2436