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Oklahoma
State Senate
Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
For Immediate Release: March 8, 2010
Sen. Earl Garrison
YouTube Attack Video Bill Clears Senate
State Sen. Earl Garrison
has won unanimous Senate approval for a bill to make it illegal
to videotape assaults and post them on Internet sites such as YouTube.
Senate Bill 1981 is aimed at individuals who have prior knowledge
that an attack is going to take place, then videotape the assault
for the Internet.
“I was visiting with Muskogee County Sheriff Charles Pearson
last fall and there had been a number of stories in the news about
kids planning terrible attacks on unsuspecting victims, and videotaping
the assault specifically to make some kind of claim to fame on the
Internet,” said Garrison, D-Muskogee. “While this shocks
anyone with any ounce of morals, it unfortunately has encouraged
copy-cat attacks. We want to stop this in its tracks.”
Under the provisions of Senate Bill 1981, it would be illegal for
anyone to upload video or digital images to any website accessible
on the Internet if the image recorded contains a prosecutable offense
of assault and battery involving a minor.
“According to the language in my bill, a person with prior
knowledge of a planned attack who videotapes and uploads the image
could be charged with a misdemeanor and face a fine of up to $750
for each offense,” Garrison said. “We need to send a
clear message that this behavior will not be tolerated.”
Garrison said his co-author for SB 1981 is Rep. Bud Smithson, D-Sallisaw,
who is a retired Highway Patrolman.
“Representative Smithson is very enthusiastic about this bill.
I’m hopeful he’ll be able to get this through the House
as quickly as possible so we can send it to Governor Brad Henry
to become law.”
For more information contact:
Sen. Garrison: 405-521-5533
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