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New Cyberstalking Law in US Targets Email, Spares Bloggers

January 25, 2006

A new cyberstalking law, though not tested in court yet, is being criticized both by the cyberstalking victims and their advocates are criticizing it.

President Bush signed the ‘Violence against Women Reauthorization Act' as part of a Department of Justice bill on Jan. 5. It was intended to fight domestic violence and stalking. The law prohibits calling people anonymously with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass. A new provision adds that same prohibition to Internet use.

The Communications Director for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee said that the Act doesn't target any internet except e-mail. According to him the critics are misinterpreting the law because of a lack of understanding.

"All it's doing is updating the law to reflect technological changes," he said in an interview Friday. "Annoy is already in the law for phones, and we're updating it for things like e-mail. A blog is different. I would have to go look for it rather than it coming to me. We wanted to treat e-mail communications the same way we treat phone communications. I think most people would understand if they look at it that's all we're doing here."

That's not how victims' advocates or privacy advocates see it. They believe it could spare free speech. Jayne Hitchcock, president and founder of the group, Working To Halt Online Abuse, or WHOA said that the way the law is worded, it can be applied to message boards, chat rooms, instant messaging, electronic greetings, and pretty much anything that can be accessed over the Internet without a password.