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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 663 FILED ON: 1/10/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 73 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Tackey Chan |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to filing slander against anonymous parties on the internet. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Tackey Chan2nd Norfolk1/10/2025 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 663 FILED ON: 1/10/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 73 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representative Chan of Quincy, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 73) of Tackey |
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| 19 | 19 | | Chan relative to filing actions of slander against anonymous parties on the internet. Advanced |
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| 20 | 20 | | Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity. |
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| 21 | 21 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 61 OF 2023-2024.] |
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| 23 | 23 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 24 | 24 | | _______________ |
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| 25 | 25 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 26 | 26 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 27 | 27 | | _______________ |
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| 28 | 28 | | An Act relative to filing slander against anonymous parties on the internet. |
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| 29 | 29 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 30 | 30 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 31 | 31 | | 1 Section 91 of Chapter 231 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, |
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| 32 | 32 | | 2is hereby amended by inserting at the end the following new paragraph:- |
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| 33 | 33 | | 3 A plaintiff with the intent of filing against a defendant under this section, but is unable to |
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| 34 | 34 | | 4do so because of a lack of a real name of the person committing the act and said real name is |
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| 35 | 35 | | 5being held by a third party who provides the forum, which includes, but not limited to, paper, |
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| 36 | 36 | | 6Internet and Telecommunications, by which the defendant is able to commit such an act. The |
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| 37 | 37 | | 7third party shall release the name, address and relative contact information to the plaintiff within |
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| 38 | 38 | | 8ten days of the plaintiff’s request; provided that the plaintiff states the intent is the file an action |
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| 39 | 39 | | 9against the defendant under this section. Should the third party not comply with the plaintiff’s |
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| 40 | 40 | | 10request, the plaintiff may seek a court order from district court, seeking the third party to release 2 of 2 |
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| 41 | 41 | | 11the information, so the plaintiff can initiate a filing against a defendant. The district court may |
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| 42 | 42 | | 12impose penalties for non-compliance of a court order on the third party if there is no compliance. |
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