Personal information: Internet disclosure prohibition.

Existing law authorizes victims of domestic violence or stalking and reproductive health care providers, employees, and volunteers, as defined, to complete an application to be approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of enabling state and local agencies to respond to requests for public records without disclosing a program participant's residence address contained in any public record. Existing law prohibits the Secretary of State from making a program participant's address publicly available, except in specified circumstances, including when the participant's program certification has been canceled. This bill would specify, instead, that a participant's personal address may be revealed after termination of certification only if the participant's termination resulted from the program manager determining that false information was used as a subterfuge to avoid detection of illegal or criminal activity or apprehension by law enforcement. This bill would, for purposes of the program for victims of domestic violence or stalking, prohibit a person, business, or association from knowingly and intentionally publicly posting or displaying on the Internet, or soliciting, selling, or trading on the Internet, specified personal information of a program participant or other persons residing at the same address with a prescribed intent to cause great bodily harm or place a person in objectively reasonable fear for his or her personal safety. The bill would also prohibit a person, business, or association from intentionally publicly posting or displaying on the Internet specified personal information of a program participant or other persons residing at the same address if the participant has made a demand on the person, business, or association to not disclose that information, as specified. Violation of these provisions would be subject to specified civil penalties. The bill would prohibit a person from posting on the Internet the home address, the telephone number, or personal identifying information of a domestic violence or stalking victim program participant or the program participant's family members who are participating in the program, or a provider, employee, volunteer, or patient of a reproductive health facility or individual residing at the same address with the intent that another person imminently use that information to commit a crime involving violence or a threat of violence against the participant or the program participant's family members who are participating in the program. Violations of these provisions would be a crime, punishable as specified. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.