ORLANDO, Fla. – The challenge to protect reputations from imposters on the internet and social media platforms has prompted a call to revamp the 1996 Communications Decency Act by Florida Congressman Darren Soto (D-Kissimmee).
Soto told News 6 he has developed a rough draft for the 2024 SHIELD Act or “Stopping Hijacking of Identity Expressly for Libel Domains” Act after seeing the News 6 investigation into the tainted reputation of UCF student Alex Bugay.
“It really caused us to examine identity theft, particularly with these types of scenarios,” Soto told News 6. “We want to make sure people have control of their identities.”
Bugay, a senior at UCF, was blasted online after a racially charged post that appeared to be written by him slammed a Georgia state representative for changing party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.
Bugay had nothing to do with it, but the fallout cost him an internship with the university.
After reviewing our report, Soto started to craft language to address the existing federal law that seems to be past its’ prime.
“This is a long time coming,” Sota said, “We’re seeing increasing interest on both sides of the aisle to move this legislation forward, and this time we are seeing much more interest from the Senate.”
Soto told News 6 he is convinced the new legislation will come up for a vote within the next 2 months.
“We’re thrilled to work with Channel 6 and your (Mike Holfeld’s) reporting,” Soto said.
In an email to News 6, Bugay wrote in part: ”Thank you once again for making this happen by truly looking at how we can change such an injustice in our world. As you know from my story, I had to fight for each yard I could get towards restoring my name.”
If you have been a victim of an online imposter email Investigator Mike Holfeld -mholfeld@wkmg.com.
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