State lawmakers on the Virginia Crime Commission are working to hammer out provisions to criminalize the act of impersonating another individual on-line. They’re trying to get ahead of the new versions of fraud that are emerging in the digital age … which can harm reputations or cause financial damage. The panel found that it’s not as easy to penalize such acts as it might first appear.
Delegate Todd Gilbert first raised the issue after a local teacher had a problem.
“A student set up a Facebook page pretending to be her, and then sent lewd, sexually suggestive messages to fellow students who ‘friended,’ in theory, the teacher. They thought they had made a social network connection with the teacher. And, in fact, they hadn’t-and it got around the school that this was going on, and it was very traumatic for the teacher.”
So Gilbert proposed making digital impersonation a Class 1 misdemeanor if there’s an intent to harass, intimidate, or defraud. But the panel’s staff warned that the courts have upheld most speech as protected under the First Amendment. Including an intent to “intimidate” and “defraud” might be constitutional-but “harassment” may not be. However, Delegate Rob Bell questioned whether the courts have really settled this.
“I would contend that this is a different level. This is not saying that ‘Gilbert is an idiot.’ It’s saying, ‘I AM that person and I AM that idiot.’ I just think that it’s a different level.”
The panel decided to move forward with the bill but to fine-tune it before recommending a final proposal.