Draft bill on cyberstalking

Recently, representatives Passo, Brezzo, Alonso and Ehcosor filed Draft Bill No. 3862-D-2017 (the “Bill”) which aims to incorporate articles 131 bis, ter, quarter into the Argentine Criminal Code, and to modify current article 153 bis.

The Bill highlights that, in the light of new technologies it is necessary to constantly update national legislation to safeguard the essential rights recognized by the Argentine Constitution. The first step in this direction was the issuance of Law No. 26,388 which introduced certain cybercrimes. However, the Bill notes the existence of certain criminal conducts that are currently left unpunished.

Specifically, the first article of the Bill proposes to incorporate article 131 bis into the Criminal Code, which would sentence “the individual who disseminates or publishes visual material, audio material or sensitive data about the preferences or sexual life of another individual of legal age, in digital format and through any means of data treatment without authorization or consent, even if the material was obtained with the approval of the individual whose intimacy and/or privacy is affected” to 6 months to 2 years of imprisonment. This punishment could be extended to 1 to 3 years of imprisonment if the dissemination was conducted using “false identities, an alias of the affected individual or apocryphal profiles”.

Furthermore, the inclusion of article 131 ter would sentence “the individual who performs stalking and/or persecution acts by any means of data treatment against another individual of legal age, using anonymity or not, in a way that compromises sensitive data of the individual’s preferences, sexual life, and/or that sorely affects the development of his or her daily life” to 6 months to 3 years of imprisonment.

Finally, the Bill proposes including article 153 to the Criminal Code, raising the existing penalties from 1 month to 6 months of imprisonment.