Huckleberries Online

Posts tagged: Steve Hartgen

Hartgen Targets Internet Harassment

Posted by DFO

Feb. 5, 2009 9:51 a.m. • 15 comments

The House State Affairs Committee got hung up when Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle, objected to a clause in a bill from Rep. Steve Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, that sought to outlaw Internet harassment, because it listed “MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Twitter” along with personal blogs. Labrador asked if there was “a technical term or a term of art” that could be used, rather than listing commercial names. Hartgen responded with a stab: “Internet posting sites?” But as the committee moved along, Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, jumped in, saying, “They’re called social networking sites”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Unequivocal Notion reaction

Question: Hartgen, of course, is the former publisher of the Twin Falls Times-News. Do you consider his legislation targetting Internet harassment necessary? Or would it have a chilling effect on Internet freedom?

About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.