It bothers me how people can be so mean to others. The Internet is now a tool for a lot of people that intend to hurt others. It is a venue for sexual predators, harassers, stalkers, and people who want to defame others. They hide behind computers as they do their dirty work.
Recently, someone sent some pictures to various people, the media, public relations firms, and the Hawaii State Legislature. The person or persons were determined to ruin the reputation of someone close to me.
Several years ago, I worked on legislation to make it tougher on people who commit crimes and defamation on the Internet. Back then, a person impersonated and defamed a friend of mine by cutting her head from a picture and placing it on a picture of a naked body of another girl and posted it on myspace for all to see. She used my friend's real name and phone number and pretended that my friend was soliciting sex. Fortunately, she didn't put my friend's address like what happened to other victims as was stated in a legislative hearing. We feared for my friend's safety. As a result, I tried to incorporate language that made impersonation, stalking, and harassment on the Internet a crime if the act put the victim in fear of her safety.
I will also be working on making it more strict when one commits the offense of defamation and libel on another. I want to also place more liability on the owner of the computer and server companies, especially if they don't cooperate with investigations. I am also thinking of making a bill to require server companies to retain records for a longer time in Hawaii. Finally, I will also draft a resolution to Congress to make stricter requirements on server companies nationwide on retaining records.
Unfortunately, none of my past bills on these issues passed. I will be bringing back some of these bills and creating more bills on this issue for the the 2008 Legislative Session.
JON RIKI KARAMATSU 