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Patrick files bill to close loophole on lewd computer messages

E-mail|Link|Comments () February 10, 2010 01:18 PM

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Acting swiftly to close a loophole in state law exposed by a court decision last week, Governor Deval Patrick has filed legislation that would make it illegal for people to send lewd computer messages to minors.

"The bill will update our state's criminal laws by closing this significant loophole, thereby making the dissemination of such materials through electronic means subject to the same sanctions as communications involving more traditional means, such as printed materials, photographs, recordings, and visual representations," Patrick said in a letter Tuesday to the Legislature.

He said the legislation would allow the state to "better protect our most vulnerable victims from obscene or otherwise harmful material."

The state Supreme Judicial Court ruled last week that the current law does not ban sending "matter harmful to minors" via instant messaging or any other electronic method because those modes of transmission are simply not mentioned in the law.

"If the Legislature wishes to include instant messaging or other electronically transmitted text in the definition," the court said in a unanimous decision, "it is for the Legislature, not the court, to do so."