Not Rose Law Group Gripe Editor @griper
Anyone who is compelled to complain about something every week should be placed on Valium.
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Rose Law Group Reporter Gripe of the Week
Apparently the temptation to chide — even totally misrepresent — public figures has led to a growing number of fictitious Twitter sites that have targeted Arizona politicians.
Sen. Ron Gould discovered a fake Twitter account three years ago using his name and photo to mock his mustache and lampoon his conservative views. He contacted Twitter, and the account handle was changed to @NOTRonGould and added a note it was a parody.
Just before this year’s primary election, when Rep. Michelle Ugenti faced Republican Jennifer Petersen, someone created a fake Twitter account using Ugenti’s campaign photo and a play on her name. A few days later, the account went inactive. The incident has led to a “dumb bill” sponsored by Ugenti.
The bill is aimed at impostors who use electronic communications to fake the identity of others with the intent to do harm. She says, however, it is not meant to apply to satirical speech or parody social media accounts.
But First Amendment experts say the bill, as it is written, could also apply to social media accounts mocking politicians, and would assail free speech rights.
Dan Barr, an attorney with the Arizona First Amendment Coalition, said the bill is overly broad and will, in effect, criminalize a form of speech — lying. The bill is unnecessary, he said, because the state already outlaws identity theft, harassment, intimidation and threats, and those statutes apply to activity online as well.
“This is a dumb bill, and if it gets enacted to law, it will get struck down as overbroad under the First Amendment,” Barr said.
“This has clear constitutional problems,” he said. “I mean we’re not the thought police. You don’t go around and prosecute people for intent, especially when that intent is not realized and no harm is caused to anybody.”
Your Gripe Editor agrees with Barr’s slippery slope reasoning, but is not as confident about defeat of the bill.
Rule No. 1 for politicians and others in the public spotlight: Have thick skin and sense of humor. Fake Twitter sites have taken aim at Rose Law Group, which has not requested they be taken down, rather, considers them “funny.”
The authors of such sites really have too much time on their hands and if they want to put their words in someone else’s mouth, they should first wash theirs out.
