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Committee advances doxxing bill after partisan debate over First Amendment risks
Summary
Senate Bill 27 to criminalize doxxing passed out of the Judiciary Committee with a technical amendment after hours of debate over free speech, scope, and the statute's mental-state standard.
Senator Albers, sponsor of Senate Bill 27, told the committee the bill creates a graded offense for the practice commonly known as doxxing and is designed to focus protections on victims rather than restrict lawful speech. "Doxxing has become a major issue in our state and across our nation," Albers said. He said the bill uses an escalating penalty structure: misdemeanor for a first offense and felony penalties for repeated or aggravated conduct.
Opponents and civil- liberties groups urged caution. Lauren Collins, an attorney speaking in opposition, told the committee the draft criminalizes dissemination of even public information and lacks adequate defenses for truthful reporting. "This law does not recognize truth as a defense," Collins said, warning of a chilling effect on investigative reporting and consumer fraud exposures.
The Georgia First Amendment Foundation and the Anti-Defamation League both testified and urged narrower language. Sarah Bruton Palmer of the First Amendment Foundation said the misdemeanor standard of ‘‘reckless disregard’’ in the draft is too low and could sweep in legitimate reporting. The Anti-Defamation League's witness argued the substitute tightened the bill and relied on recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent on threats and speech.
Discussion at the hearing ranged from whether the bill covers material created by artificial intelligence to whether media outlets would be vulnerable to prosecution for publishing alleged personally identifiable information. Several committee members pressed staff on carve-outs for reporting and for when published information is already public.
Chairman Gullett offered and the committee accepted a technical amendment clarifying that posting a property address on real-estate or mapping platforms is not, by itself, personally identifiable information under the section when the address is not tied to the owner or occupant. The committee then voted to advance Senate Bill 27 with that amendment to the Rules Committee.
What happened next: After extended debate and a targeted amendment addressing mapping and real-estate displays, the committee reported Senate Bill 27 favorably to the Rules calendar.
