Commentary

Arizona Lawmakers Tell Web Users Not To 'Annoy' People With 'Lewd' Language

Lawmakers in Arizona recently passed a sweeping -- and almost certainly unconstitutional -- bill that makes it illegal to "annoy or offend" people by using "lewd" or "profane" language online, or posting messages that "suggest any lewd or lascivious act.”

The measure is awaiting the approval of Gov. Jan Brewer, who hasn't yet said whether she intends to sign the law.

The bill extends a statute prohibiting people from making harassing telephone calls to the Web. But, as UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh points out, there's a big difference between bothering a specific person on the phone and posting a message on a blog.

"Telephones are basically one-to-one devices, so a phone call that uses profane language to offend is likely meant only to offend the one recipient, rather than to persuade or inform anyone; but computers used to post Facebook messages or send Twitter messages or post blog items can offend some listeners while persuading and informing others," he writes.

Civil libertarians and media companies have been known to differ on Internet policy issues -- as the recent debates about anti-piracy bills proved. But they're in complete agreement that this bill is a bad idea.

"It annoys me that AZ passed a bill to ban annoying speech online. Luckily it's unconstitutional," tweeted Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyer Kurt Opshal.

The group Media Coalition -- whose members include the Recording Industry Association of America, Motion Picture Association of America and Association of American Publishers -- wrote to Brewer to urge her to reject the bill. "Speech protected by the First Amendment is often intended to offend, annoy or scare but could be prosecuted under this law," the letter states. "Much general content available in the media uses racy or profane language and is intended to offend, annoy or even terrify. Bill Maher’s stand up routines and Jon Stewart’s nightly comedy program, Ann Coulter’s books criticizing liberals and Christopher Hitchens’ expressing his disdain for religion, Stephen King’s novels or the Halloween films all could be subject to this legislation."

3 comments about "Arizona Lawmakers Tell Web Users Not To 'Annoy' People With 'Lewd' Language".
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  1. Robert Repas from Machine Design Magazine, April 4, 2012 at 10:54 a.m.

    Heh, the RIAA and MPAA, in trying to censor everybody else, are now facing their own degrees of censorship. Over half of the movies and a large portion of records could not be streamed over the Internet in AZ if this law is signed -- which means the RIAA's and MPAA's hopes of making money from this new technology is dashed before it gets out the gate.

  2. Philip Moore from Philip Moore, April 4, 2012 at 11:12 a.m.

    How embarrassing for Arizona if the governor signs the law. I guess the upside is that Alabama has someone to make fun of now.

  3. Chuck Lantz from 2007ac.com, 2017ac.com network, April 4, 2012 at 5:52 p.m.

    I'd love to hear what Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter and the rest from that side have to say about this law. If it passes and spreads, they'll all be out of a job.

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