Lake County Gazette

The Lake County GOP asked members for its thoughts on the General Assembly’s passage of a bill that would allow Illinoisans to sue over online “doxing.” 

“What are your thoughts on this subject? Does this legislation go too far?” Lake County GOP asked on Facebook about House Bill 2954, which creates liability for those engaged in “doxing", a form of harassment seen primarily online.

Mike Zacher replied, “Every topic from the woke is anti American.” 

Wirepoints excoriated General Assembly members for passing the legislation. 

“An awful, unconstitutional piece of legislation that should have been opposed by Democrats and Republicans alike passed unanimously in the Illinois House and Senate. It now goes to Gov. J.B. Pritzker for signature. The only significant opposition came from the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) of Illinois. They are right to oppose it,” Wirepoints wrote. 

Wirepoints said the legislation is in danger of being used inappropriately. 

“Illinoisans, like everyone, should be free to speak up with no fear of liability, subject only to recognized exceptions to the First Amendment. That right includes calling out particular individuals by name if they are promoting ideas you oppose. HB 2954 will undermine that right,” Wirepoints wrote. 

Wirepoint's Mark Glennon linked the house bill to infringements on free speech across the country. 

“The bill is yet another part of the assault on free speech underway nationally," he said. "That assault is being waged primarily by today’s left, so it’s no accident that most of the bill’s sponsors, listed here, are from the left. Their assault often takes the form of efforts to suppress what they like to call 'hate speech,' which in fact is often just speech they don’t like, but they can’t get away with that because even true hate speech is constitutionally protected. This bill is a backdoor effort to get around that constitutional protection, and we can expect the left will use it as a weapon to sue over speech they don’t like.”

HB 2954 creates liability for those engaged in “doxing.” Doxing is a form of harassment that involves the release of personal details about those being targeted. 

According to the bill's synopsis, it would provide that a person "engages in the act of doxing when that individual intentionally publishes another person's personally identifiable information without the consent of the person whose information is published and: (1) the information is published with the intent that it be used to harm or harass the person whose information is published and with knowledge or reckless disregard that the person whose information is published would be reasonably likely to suffer death, bodily injury or stalking; and (2) the publishing of the information: (i) causes the person whose information is published to suffer significant economic injury or mental anguish or to fear serious bodily injury or death of the person or a family or household member to the person; or (ii) causes the person whose information is published to suffer a substantial life disruption.” 

An individual who is aggrieved by such a violation, according to the bill, can bring a civil action against the person "who committed the offense to recover damages and obtain any other appropriate relief.”