Stephen Hartgen
An Idaho lawmaker says he will try again to win approval for a bill designed to prohibit and punish Internet harassment.
Rep. Stephen Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, says ongoing cases of cyber-bullying being reported nationwide show it’s time for Idaho to expand its anti-harassment statutes into online communication, including e-mails, text messaging and comments posted on blogs and social networking Web sites.
Hartgen cites a 2006 case in Missouri involving a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide after getting taunts online from a woman posing as a teenager. The case prompted Missouri lawmakers to update their laws related to harassing communications.
Earlier this year, Idaho lawmakers rejected Hartgen’s first attempt to modify the state’s telephone harassment laws to include online communication. Despite backing from law enforcement and prosecutors, the bill failed to win support in the House Judiciary Committee, prompting Hartgen to withdraw it in March.
Committee members questioned if Idaho’s decades-old telephone statute was so poorly written that expanding it to criminalize repeated annoying Internet messages would make it worse.
This time, Hartgen said the legislation will fall under a new section of law rather than being tied to the telephone statute. He said the bill wouldn’t affect public speech or voters contacting their public officials. (AP)
