The Kentucky Senate has approved legislation aimed at placing restrictions on publicizing personal identifying information for minors. The vote comes in response to an incident during last year’s March for Life Rally in Washington. Online information about Northern Kentucky student Nick Sandman was published following a face to face encounter with a native American activist Nathan Phillips.
Senator Chris McDaniel said the legislation prohibits publicizing information like the name, date of birth, or address of a minor with a message to cause harm to that person. “And if the person intentionally disseminates that information and the dissemination leaves the minor in reasonable fear of physical injury the person is guilty of a class A misdemeanor,” said McDaniel.
McDaniel said, in the case of injury or death, the penalties increase to felonies.
Louisville Senator Morgan McGarvey voted against the measure, saying Senate Bill 182 was, quote, “far too broad for any situation going forward.” “Personal identifying information could be limited to the location of a person’s school. That means, if another kid posts a picture of one of their classmates online wearing a t-shirt, they have published personal identifying information,” explained McGarvey.
The bill now goes to the House.
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