As the Senate Ethics Committee investigates a complaint against Senator Analise Ortiz (D-24) for posting about imminent ICE activity on social media, Ethics Chairwoman Shawnna Bolick (R-2) is highlighting her legislative authority regarding online privacy. Bolick noted that her work on the issue began years earlier with legislation aimed at curbing “doxxing,” the very kind of allegation now being weighed against Ortiz.

Senate Ethics Committee Chair Shawnna Bolick is pointing to her 2021 law addressing online misuse of personal information as the panel reviews a complaint involving public posts and law enforcement activity. In 2021, Bolick sponsored HB 2502, which amended A.R.S. § 13-2916 and was signed by Gov. Doug Ducey. Her office announced at the time that the bill “prohibits posting another person’s personal identifying information online for the purpose of that person being harassed,” describing it as legislation “protecting Arizonans from ‘doxxing’.”

The statute now makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to, “without the person’s consent and for the purpose of imminently causing the person unwanted physical contact, injury or harassment by a third party, use an electronic communication device to … publish the person’s personal identifying information, and the use does in fact incite or produce that unwanted contact or harassment.”

The law also contains an explicit carve-out for First Amendment concerns: “This section does not apply to … constitutionally protected speech or activity.”

Legislative materials summarize the intent as establishing that electronically distributing a person’s personal identifying information without consent and with an intent that is likely to cause harassment is a criminal offense. Vote tallies show it passed with bipartisan support and was transmitted to the Governor in April 2021.

Criminal ‘doxxing’ may include penalties of up to six months in jail and a $2,500 fine for a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Since its enactment, there have been limited published cases interpreting this provision. Legal scholars note that doxxing remains “relatively under-theorized” as a legal issue, with states like Arizona among the first to add explicit statutory bans.

The statute provides definitions of covered terms. “Personal identifying information” includes “a person’s home address, telephone number, email address, social security number or other contact information that would allow a person to locate or contact the other person” (Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-2916(E)(3)). “Electronic communication” is defined as “a transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photo-optical system” (Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-2916(E)(1)).

Bolick has argued that the law was designed to prevent escalation in political and social disputes where personal data can be weaponized. “Our laws are designed to protect the public from abuse, and that includes preventing the misuse of personal data in ways that endanger lives,” she said when the measure was enacted.

You can read the Senate press release regarding this issue here.