the constitution
Arizona Lawmakers Approve Measure to Censor the Internet
Censoring communication has become a common method used in trying to suppress human rights. Syria has an “electronic army” and the country is well known for having censored internet communications as an uprising called for an overthrow of President Bashar Al-Asad. During Libya’s liberation similar tactics were used in order to suppress an uprising as well. China has finally relaxed some of its censorship efforts (not all) and is well known for restricting the access of political information and viewpoints that may not pain their governing practices in a flattering light.
The next body of government taking sweeping action against the internet is actually part of the United States. Arizona lawmakers have just passed House Bill 2549 which “prohibits using any electronic or digital device, instead of a telephone, with the intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy or offend a person.” The intent was to expand upon telephone harassment laws and to protect against bullying but may have created a series of unmanageable laws. The Media Coalition, whose goal it is to defend first amendment rights, said that the law would “apply to the Internet as a whole, thus criminalizing all manner of writing, cartoons, and other protected material the state finds offensive or annoying.” They have written a formal letter encouraging Jan Brewer not to sign the bill.
While this may seem like an odd and possibly unconstitutional law, this is the same state that has passed other laws that have bypassed the Constitution. In Arizona, police officers are required to assume federal responsibilities and determine the immigration status of Arizona residents via racial profiling. Additionally, Governor Jan Brewer has fought everything she can muster against her own residents and potential voting base to stand in the way of a people initiated medical marijuana program. Let us not forget that teaching ethnic study programs in Arizona (K-12) is also illegal and there is also discussion to expand this into the college classrooms as well. Click here for a list of Arizona’s other strange laws.
One of the great things about America is that individual states can address the needs of its residents and it is understandable that a corn farmer in Iowa may have a different set of priorities than an investment banker in New York. However, suppression of information on the internet is hard to justify as an “American value”. Our goal is to separate ourselves from regions where human rights are jeopardized, not to take notes on how they accomplish this. Arizona is demonstrating yet another example of how politicians are skilled at creating headlines for their never ending re-election campaigns, but they no longer seem capable of connecting the dots and realizing the complexities of a digital world. Similar to the SOPA bill which failed miserably, ending the internet as we know it will strip the United States of jobs we can ill afford to lose. The world is not flat and out of touch representatives need not fear new ideas on the grounds that they are “offensive”.
This article may be considered offensive according to Arizona law. Marijuana.net hopes we can continue to provide frequent news updates, if we can avoid being arrested by Arizona authorities. Not every article we write is going to please all readers, but we never previously feared being arrested for writing “annoying” material. People against medical marijuana who do not want to grant compassion, care and relief to suffering patients can be offensive. Reading about controversial laws being passed about internet censorship may be offensive and is absolutely annoying, will Arizona legislators arrest themselves?