Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has signed a law that prohibits knowingly disseminating personal information about public health workers or public health workers' immediate family online if it poses an imminent and serious threat to the person's safety.
The law signed May 18 applies to public health employees, contractors, or employees of contractors of the department of public health and environment, or of county or district public health agencies. It also applies to members of county or district boards of health, excluding elected county commissioners.
"What they have been through this last year has been absolutely extraordinary," Mr. Polis said during a virtual call before he signed the law. "The work that's been called upon them, the way they have risen to the occasion and the piece that this bill addresses, which is some of the doxing and the targeting."
He added, "You are doing your job as public health officials, and you should not be subject to this kind of online targeting at home, at work."
Under the bill, doxing — or publishing someone's personal information on the internet such as home address, home telephone number or personal cellphone number — is a class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also allows a public health worker to submit a written request to a state or local government official to remove personal information from publicly accessible government databases online.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Executive Director Jill Hunsaker Ryan said at the bill-signing that the bill is vital, given the instances of public health officials facing threats and vandalism during the public health crisis.
She said, "It will protect personal information of public health workers and their families, providing them the same personal information protections that currently exist for law enforcement officers and certain human service workers."
Read more about the bill here.