Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
Police in Renton, Washington are seeking an unknown cartoonist for cyberstalking. To that end, officials have obtained a search warrant from a local judge to discover the identity of the anonymous cartoonist. The alleged crime this cartoonist committed? Posting cartoons online parodying the Renton Police Department and referring to real life internal affairs incidents at the Renton PD in the dialog. It is important to note that neither is the Renton Police Department named nor are the real names of any people attached to the Renton Police Department are used in the cartoons linked posted by KIRO TV. The videos are not in a format that can be embedded in WordPress, but the Jail Parody and the Locker Room Parody can both be seen at KIRO TV’s website.
Parody is protected free speech in many cases, but the case law is unclear in providing bright line definitions of what does and what doesn’t qualify as parody. This often leads to detailed case by case examination of claims. When the parody involves copyrighted materials, there are guidelines and tests to apply in determining if the parody is legitimate. Generally speaking, there are two lines of defense involving parody: the free speech defense based in Constitutional law and the fair use defense based in copyright law. As these parodies do not involve copyrighted materials, the fair use defense is not relevant here. The free speech defense is another matter. As a matter of Constitutional law, parody is protected free speech. Is the Renton Police Department attempting to use a criminal statute to persecute a critic engaging in critical parody and repress the cartoonist’s 1st Amendment Free Speech rights? Some think that’s exactly what they are doing.
KIRO TV brought the matter to the attention of attorney Venkat Balasubramani, an expert in cyber-law and constitutional issues. After reviewing several of the parody videos and the court documents, Mr. Balasubramani offered the following opinions. “The cyberstalking angle doesn’t pass the laugh test. It’s a serious stretch and I’d be surprised if somebody looked at it and realistically thought these acts actually fit the statute and we could make somebody criminally liable.” When Balasubramani was asked about a more likely scenario, he said, “I think they were trying to get at the speaker and they looked around for a statute that shoehorned their conduct into and sent that to Google and said ‘turn over the information.'”
In Washington state, cyberstalking is defined by the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 9.61.260 as follows:
(1) A person is guilty of cyberstalking if he or she, with intent to harass, intimidate, torment, or embarrass any other person, and under circumstances not constituting telephone harassment, makes an electronic communication to such other person or a third party:
(a) Using any lewd, lascivious, indecent, or obscene words, images, or language, or suggesting the commission of any lewd or lascivious act;
(b) Anonymously or repeatedly whether or not conversation occurs; or
(c) Threatening to inflict injury on the person or property of the person called or any member of his or her family or household.
(2) Cyberstalking is a gross misdemeanor, except as provided in subsection (3) of this section.
(3) Cyberstalking is a class C felony if either of the following applies:
(a) The perpetrator has previously been convicted of the crime of harassment, as defined in RCW 9A.46.060, with the same victim or a member of the victim’s family or household or any person specifically named in a no-contact order or no-harassment order in this or any other state; or
(b) The perpetrator engages in the behavior prohibited under subsection (1)(c) of this section by threatening to kill the person threatened or any other person.
(4) Any offense committed under this section may be deemed to have been committed either at the place from which the communication was made or at the place where the communication was received.
(5) For purposes of this section, “electronic communication” means the transmission of information by wire, radio, optical cable, electromagnetic, or other similar means. “Electronic communication” includes, but is not limited to, electronic mail, internet-based communications, pager service, and electronic text messaging.
After initial attempts by KIRO TV to contact both the City Attorney’s office and the Renton Police Department for comment concerning the motivation of the charges were rebuffed, the Renton Police Department finally issued a statement on Thursday. “Some of the videos are incidents of misconduct, some are unsubstantiated, some are rumors, some are previous internal investigations that were found to be unfounded and some are just flat out untrue and lies. I would rather err on the side of investigating all complaints (and) alleged criminal misconduct rather than risk failing to investigate a crime that’s been reported,” said Renton Police Chief Kevin Milosevich. Some might think that statement sounds more like an excuse rather than an answer to whether the charges are proper or not.
Do you think the cartoons are protected free speech parody or legitimate cyberstalking? Is the Washington statute the Renton Police are attempting to use over broad and subject to Constitutional abuses? Is the Renton Police Department seeking to use criminal law to persecute and prosecute an artist’s permissible exercise of free speech rights?
What do you think?
Source: KIROTV.com (1), (2), RCW
~Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
OS,
City Attorney’s are all too often politicians first and lawyers last.
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Gene,
You have something…am not sure what it is…but there are words to describe your symptoms….But a lexicographic should seem the symptoms first….Dr. H!
🙂
Gene, NO FAIR, I don’t have my dictionary yet 🙂
LK,
Yes. I have a vociferously precipitous, intrepidly extensive and nefariously lexicographical vocabulary.
What is the DA saying? Something along the lines of,”whoever did that lengthy commentary is really going to go full throttle and THE distance, meaning, out of county, district, whatever.”
I mean, I guess the DA and Judge would say, “listen, police department, your stupid embarrassement is NOT going to be mine too.”
At least that is what the government offices used to say before our US government controlled mafia would even fucking consider that Police can’t be video taped. I mean, what a joke right?
Gene, Considering that was Val Kilmers (be still my beating heart) famous line (I’ll be your huckleberry) in “Tombstone” right before he killed The Ringo Kid (or some other nefarious outlaw) can one take that as a challenge?
Raf, I think this Scrabble table will have a bit of good natured ‘jeopardy’ for anyone that sits in. 🙂
Scrabble? I’m your huckleberry. 🙂
Oooooooh, wrap around 🙂 I swoon at the concept. OS, dictionaries for all should level the playing field. Unless they ask you to leave because you like, eat the tiles. I should bring a hand full of those small, individual wet-wipes too?
Harder than it sounds with a dictionary. I imagine so! If you’re spelling it incorrectly to begin with based on the limited selection of tiles you have you could get in trouble pretty fast.
Yes Scrabble and Yatzee (the dice poker-type game) were great hooks to get people around a table. Mass quantities of snacks were a plus.
I never liked Scrabble. I was more of a Jeopardy player.
The last time I played Scrabble, after a couple of hours they told me to leave. They did not want to play any more. 🙁
I will play if you won’t throw me out. 😀
lottakatz,
I allow dictionaries … everybody gets one and can look up any word they have said out loud for the correct spelling … it’s harder than it sounds. We play but we spend a lot of time talking, drinking and eating. It’s an excuse to get together. We even allow foreign words. Creativity is the name of the game when we play. Straight play is boring. Sometimes we allow players to go off one side of the board to come back on the other side … wrap around.
Blouise: lottakatz, … do you like Scrabble?
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Actually yes, but my spelling is terrible. If creativity counted I’d win every time but people insisted on that darned ‘correct spelling’ technicality 🙂 I was thinking about Scrabble last night in fact; I haven’t played that in a long time.
I had waited to comment because I was speechless. This investigation does not pass the laugh–or the smell–test. It is difficult for me to comprehend any lawyer smart enough to pass the bar exam filing this complaint.
I hope there is a dummy front on this matter similar to a WikiLeaks model. I would hate for it to be too easy for the investigator. The longer this is drawn out, the more the media will become interested in it, because this time, it is their ox that is being gored.
lottakatz,
Stealth operations, in a good cause, are a hell of a lot of fun. Everybody has to keep theirs mouths firmly closed … no bragging and no gloating.
I would thoroughly enjoy trading stories and drinking the night away … do you like Scrabble?
culheath,
Je vous remercie, mon bon monsieur. Lord, I hope that’s right … my french is very rusty …
steve k,
And if all goes according to plan that is exactly what will happen which is why the administration is so damned scared and reaching so far down into their bag of tricks. Such desperation is karmic in nature and a beautiful thing to behold.
Blouise: “I suspect that, in reality, a small group got fed up with the shenanigans of the administrators; knew they were powerless to bring about change through official channels, so went stealth. From the content of the cartoons I would also suspect some legal advice was obtained before publication. This is no fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants operation.”
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Your assessment has the right feel to it f’sure. These ‘whistle-blowers were some very frustrated wage-slaves.
You are a lady that has had your ear to the ground and (I suspect) your feet on the treadmill for a long time. I would love to hear your stories (and I just know you have them) of the petit sabotage of the working class to which you are privy. That and a couple of beers- I’ll bring a nice Guacamole salad- would be a night of epic, EPIC! storytelling 🙂
Blouise,
Parfait et c’est vrai.