In December, at least a dozen Republican members of the Indiana General Assembly experienced online threats and swatting attempts directed toward their homes, families and places of employment during an unsuccessful effort to redraw Indiana’s congressional districts.
Senate Bill 140 would penalize individuals who carry out those threats through doxxing, which means knowingly or intentionally posting personal information to communicate a threat. The act alone would become a Class A misdemeanor, but if the doxxing resulted in bodily injury or death, the doxxer could face a felony charge.
Members of the Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee discussed the bill Tuesday, when committee Chair Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, gave a short but strongly worded speech about the doxxing that occurred during December’s redistricting debate.
“Anybody that is 45 years old, living in their mother’s basement and never having a relationship with anybody and getting on a computer and doing this stuff, swatting on down, is the most egregious thing,” Freeman said. “My God, can we be adults about this? I mean, do you really want to send the SWAT team to Spencer Deery’s house and his kids? I mean, is that where we are as a society?”
Although Freeman never said he or his family experienced doxxing, several other lawmakers shared their experiences with media outlets in December.
Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, a co-author of SB 140, told CNN that the entirety of her grandson’s basketball team received “bad” text messages about her last month. It swayed her to vote against redistricting.
Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, another co-author on the bill, was subject to a false report of a shooting in his home and an unsolicited pizza, which he believed was sent to his house to intimidate him. He also voted against redrawing the state’s congressional map.
Other lawmakers were subject to pipe bomb threats, domestic abuse reports and more mysterious pizza deliveries. Among them were Sen. Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute, Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, and Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, each of whom are co-authors on SB 140. Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, and Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, who were outspoken against doxxing last month, are authors alongside Freeman and Leising.
Freeman’s passionate speech stressed his desire to have verbal discourse with anyone who might disagree with him—not anonymous threats.
“If you disagree with something that I have, good. Come to the Statehouse and tell me about it. I am a big boy with broad shoulders. I am good, not hiding from anybody,” Freeman said. “You want to take on my kids, I got a whole different problem.”
A spokesperson with the Anti-Defamation League testified Tuesday in support of the bill, saying it is a critical measure to prevent doxxing in Indiana while also adequately protecting free speech.
Madison West with the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council also testified in support of the bill and said doxxing and anti-semitism are often connected, threatening Jewish professionals, academics and students.
“Senate Bill 140 is narrowly tailored, protects free speech and provides an important tool to justice,” West said.
No one testified against the bill, but Sen. Liz Brown, D-Fort Wayne, expressed some concerns about the broadness of its language when referring to the co-workers of doxxing targets. Freeman, one of the authors, said they are working on an amendment that would make the bill less broad.
Tuesday’s Corrections and Criminal Law Committee meeting was held solely for public testimony, so the bill was not amended or voted on.
