So how is this supposed to work with the legislation that was sponsored by Tennessee state representative Charles Curtiss and signed into law by the Governor? (H/T Drudge.) It’s now a crime to “transmit or display an image” online that is likely to “frighten, intimidate or cause emotional distress” to someone who sees it. So supposed I lived in Tennessee and posted the following photo which I also posted over at The Spokesrider:
It causes me emotional distress to see this, because it makes me wonder why we are allowing some of the worst practices of the old Soviet Union to be followed in our own country. It’s frightening, too. Not only do we incarcerate our citizens on a large scale, as did the SU, and not only are our prisons abusive places, but cameras are not allowed around them, either.
So am I obligated to turn myself in for posting a photo that causes me such distress? And what if I am arrested? Prosecutors like to get their perp walks into the news. But what if I saw a photo of my own perp walk for taking photos of our government in action? That would cause me considerable emotional distress. Do I get a double-sentence, then? And do we then get to lock up the prosecutors for a year? But what if they saw the photos of themselves being perp-walked to the courthouse?
I think this legislation needs work.