The project of law 2549 is an initiative that will change the law of communications by specifying that "trolling" on the web will be considered a crime, according to the sites Animal Politico, Gizmodo, The Blaze and Público.
The digital era has demolished the barriers of space and time by creating an extension of an individual through his/her participation in social nets, blogs, and websites without having to be physically there.
In a clear way, the project of law 2549 stipulates the following:
"It is illegal for any person to use any electronic or digital device with the intent to terrorize, intimidate, threaten, harass, bother, or offend, and also to use an obscene, indecent, or profane
language, as well as to suggest lascivious acts, or threaten to physically injure a person or any of his/her properties".
If the law gets approved, the sanctions to be applied by the state of Arizona can result in jail time and monetary fines. For this to take effect, Governor Jan Brewer must approve said law, Gizmodo informed.
Groups against this project said that it will be very hard to define the criteria on what will be considered an offense, and that instead of helping the users, censorship will increase threatening the freedom of speech.
The counterpart group conformed of users that have been victimized by virtual violence, think "trolling" interferes with the proper functioning of the Internet.
Congress democratic leader in Arizona, Chad Campbell, stated that once the law gets validated, it could experience additional modifications in search of not limiting the freedom of speech by protecting the users.
brenda.colon@sandiegored.com
