I've been thinking about this since Brian posted it and I'm not quite sure how it applies to the Deck. It has to do with menacing/stalking and I haven't seen any of that here, although it is not inconceivable and perhaps there was some in the Deck's history. The closest any of us got was Council's bogus police complaint last year against Brian about his "blood on your hands" comment, a comment I agreed with, although I wouldn't have used that terminology, but it certainly got their attention. I'll paste the linked summation below. Some questions to consider:
1) how much is the hosting site (in this case, the Deck) responsible for such an irresponsible post?
2) how can this be used against other statements - it seems pretty narrow to me?
3) are the various terms defined in the law?
4) should something about this be included in the "new rules"?
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This is pasted from an Ohio Judicial Conference Enactment News PDF, so there may be copying problems, but hopefully no copyright concerns:
http://www.ohiojudges.org/Document.ashx ... 2edb799f1f
"House Bill 151
Menacing by stalking/telecommunications harassment
Effective August 16, 2016
On May 17, 2016, Governor Kasich signed into law H.B. 151 (Rep. Anielski), which expands
the offenses of menacing by stalking and telecommunications harassment. The changes
become effective on August 15, 2016.
“Menacing by stalking” expanded
Existing law (R.C. 2903.211) provides that a person is guilty of menacing by stalking if the
person knowingly causes another to believe that the offender will cause physical harm to the
other person, or if the offender causes mental distress to the other person. H.B. 151 expands
this offense to also include causing someone to believe the offender will cause physical harm
to a member of the other person’s family or household, which is defined in the bill.
Additionally, existing law prohibits using any electronic method of remotely transferring
information to commit a menacing by stalking offense. H.B. 151 expands this prohibition to
include using “any form of written communication” as well, and specifically includes a
“telecommunication device” as such an electronic method of remotely transferring information.
The bill provides that no person shall use such a method to either directly commit a menacing
by stalking violation, or to urge or incite another to commit such a violation.
Telecommunications harassment
Under existing law (R.C. 2917.21), no person shall make a telecommunication with the
purpose to harass or abuse another person, but only if the person fails first to identify himself
or herself to the recipient of the telecommunication. H.B. 151 amends this so that a person is
guilty of telecommunications harassment regardless of whether the caller identifies himself or
herself. The offense is also extended to include “intimidating” another person via
telecommunication. The bill also adds several activities to the list of what constitutes
telecommunications harassment under R.C. 2917.21:
Knowingly making a comment, request, suggestion, or proposal to the recipient of
the telecommunication that is threatening, menacing, coercive, or obscene, with
the intent to abuse, threaten, or harass
Knowingly interrupting the telecommunication service of another without a lawful
business purpose to do so
Without a lawful business purpose, knowingly transmitting to any person a file,
document, or other communication that prevents the person from using his or her
telephone service or electronic communication device
Knowingly making a false statement regarding the death, injury, disfigurement,
reputation, indecent conduct, or criminal conduct of the recipient of a
telecommunication (or a family or household member of that person) with the
purpose to abuse, threaten, intimidate, or harass
Knowingly inciting a person, through a telecommunication, to harass or participate
in the harassment of another person
Knowingly alarming the recipient by making a telecommunication, without a lawful
purpose, at an hour known to be inconvenient to the recipient and in an offensive
or repetitive manner
Knowingly posting a text or audio statement or an image on a web site for the
purpose of abusing, threatening, or harassing another person.
Finally, H.B. 151 provides that the telecommunications-harassment prohibitions set forth in
R.C. 2917.21 do not apply to a person solely because the person provided access to an
electronic method of remotely transferring information not under that person’s control, and
also creates certain exceptions for employees of newspapers, magazines, or other media
outlets."