NY State Senate Bill 2011-S6779

Senate Bill S6779

2011-2012 Legislative Session

Provides that a web site administrator shall remove any comments posted upon request unless the poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - Stricken

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jun 05, 2012	recommit, enacting clause stricken
Mar 21, 2012	referred to codes

2011-S6779 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A8688
Law Section:: Civil Rights Law
Laws Affected:: Add §79-o, Civ Rts L

2011-S6779 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides that a web site administrator shall remove any comments posted upon request unless the poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post.

2011-S6779 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S6779

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the civil rights law, in relation to protecting a person's right
to know who is behind an anonymous internet posting

PURPOSE:
To enact the Internet Protection Act to provide reasonable protection
to individuals from anonymous Internet posters.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 contains definitions and requires a website administrator,
upon request to remove any comments posted on his or her website by
an anonymous poster unless the anonymous poster agrees to attach
his or her name to the post and confirms his or her address, legal
name, and home address are accurate. Also, requires website
administrators to have a contact number or email address posted for
removal requests, clearly visible in any section where comments are
posted.

JUSTIFICATION:
Bullies are notorious for harassing and/or threatening their victims
face-to-face. However, modem technology now allows this behavior to
occur anonymously, from just about anywhere at any time. Using
electronic communications devices, cyber bullies can post damaging

comments about a person on a website, while remaining anonymous and
difficult to trace. While cyber bullying is often committed by or
against children, it is by no means confined to children.

Anonymous postings on the internet not only can harm the persons or
businesses being directly victimized, but they also hurt the public
in general. When anonymous posters hide behind the internet to
facilitate a crime (such as Harassment) or as a vehicle for
defamation, innocent men, women and children are openly victimized,
and the public is intentionally mislead.

This legislation simply provides a means for the victim of an
anonymous posting on a website to request that such post be removed,
unless the anonymous poster is willing to attach his or her name to it.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.

2011-S6779 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  6779

                            I N  S E N A T E

                             March 21, 2012
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  O'MARA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes

AN ACT to amend the civil  rights  law,  in  relation  to  protecting  a
  person's right to know who is behind an anonymous internet posting

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. The civil rights law, is amended by adding  a  new  section
79-o to read as follows:
  S  79-O.  ANONYMOUS INTERNET POSTER; RIGHT TO KNOW. 1. DEFINITIONS. AS
USED IN THIS SECTION, THE FOLLOWING  WORDS  AND  TERMS  SHALL  HAVE  THE
FOLLOWING MEANINGS:
  (A)  ANONYMOUS  POSTER  IS ANY INDIVIDUAL WHO POSTS A MESSAGE ON A WEB
SITE INCLUDING SOCIAL NETWORKS, BLOGS  FORUMS,  MESSAGE  BOARDS  OR  ANY
OTHER DISCUSSION SITE WHERE PEOPLE CAN HOLD CONVERSATIONS IN THE FORM OF
POSTED MESSAGES.
  (B)  "WEB  SITE  ADMINISTRATOR"  MEANS  ANY  PERSON  OR ENTITY THAT IS
RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING A WEB SITE OR MANAGING THE CONTENT OR DEVEL-
OPMENT OF INFORMATION PROVIDED ON A WEB SITE INCLUDING SOCIAL  NETWORKS,
BLOGS  FORUMS,  MESSAGE BOARDS OR ANY OTHER DISCUSSION SITE WHERE PEOPLE
CAN HOLD CONVERSATIONS IN THE FORM OF POSTED MESSAGES, ACCESSIBLE VIA  A
NETWORK SUCH AS THE INTERNET OR A PRIVATE LOCAL AREA NETWORK.
  (C)  "INTERNET"  MEANS  THE  GLOBAL  SYSTEM OF INTERCONNECTED COMPUTER
NETWORKS THAT USE THE INTERNET PROTOCOL.
  (D) "INTERNET PROTOCOL ADDRESS" OR  "IP  ADDRESS"  MEANS  A  NUMERICAL
LABEL  ASSIGNED  TO  EACH COMPUTER OR DEVICE PARTICIPATING IN A COMPUTER
NETWORK THAT USES THE INTERNET PROTOCOL FOR COMMUNICATION.
  2. A WEB SITE ADMINISTRATOR UPON REQUEST  SHALL  REMOVE  ANY  COMMENTS
POSTED  ON HIS OR HER WEB SITE BY AN ANONYMOUS POSTER UNLESS SUCH ANONY-
MOUS POSTER AGREES TO ATTACH HIS OR HER NAME TO THE  POST  AND  CONFIRMS
THAT  HIS  OR HER IP ADDRESS, LEGAL NAME, AND HOME ADDRESS ARE ACCURATE.
ALL WEB SITE ADMINISTRATORS  SHALL  HAVE  A  CONTACT  NUMBER  OR  E-MAIL
ADDRESS  POSTED  FOR  SUCH  REMOVAL  REQUESTS,  CLEARLY  VISIBLE  IN ANY
SECTIONS WHERE COMMENTS ARE POSTED.
  S 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
have become a law.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD13459-02-1

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