Arizona set to make online impersonation a felony

Arizona could soon become the latest state in the union to pass state legislation that would make online impersonation, or e-personation, a crime.

According to the Arizona Republic, State Rep. Michelle Ugenti, (R-Scottsdale) will introduce a bill that would make it a felony to use another person’s name with the intention to “harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten,” including spoofing an e-mail or text with similar devious motives.

The paper cited “about a dozen other states” that have similar legislation on the books, including California, Washington, New York, and Texas.

“If you’re going to impersonate someone and you’re going to threaten, harm or defraud them, it should be against the law because of the ramifications to the individual,” Ugenti told the paper.

That said, the state appears to already have existing laws on the books to deal with this problem. Last year, the paper added, "a disgruntled Gilbert parent created a fake profile of his son’s assistant principal on a pornographic website and chatted online under the administrator’s name." The man was convicted of two felonies and ordered to serve three months in jail as a result.

Clearly, though, the concern is that if the law is not defined narrowly enough, it could stifle legitimate speech like the Fake Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) Twitter account.

“The problem with this, and other online impersonation bills, is the potential that they could be used to go after parody or social commentary activities,” Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation also told the paper via e-mail. “While this bill is written to limit ‘intent to harm,’ if that is construed broadly, there could be First Amendment problems.”