DENVER — A Colorado community activist was convicted of doxxing a Denver police commander last week in a first-of-its-kind case that has fueled debate about whether the state’s online privacy laws violate free speech rights.
A jury in Denver County Court found Regan Benson, 53, guilty of sharing the personal information of a protected person online after she repeated a Denver police commander’s home address during a livestreamed protest and suggested her followers should meet up there so they could “have a pig roast party,” according to an arrest affidavit.
State law prohibits a person from sharing the personal information of police officers online if the person knows that doing so “poses an imminent and serious threat” to the safety of officers or their families. The law protecting police officers’ information has been on the books for more than two decades, but drew renewed attention in 2021 and 2022 when legislators expanded the doxxing protections to other professions, including health care workers, animal control officers and code enforcement officers.
Benson appears to be the first person in the state convicted under the anti-doxxing statute, said Jamie Hubbard, her attorney. She and Benson believe the criminal prosecution was unconstitutional retaliation for her criticism of the Denver Police Department, including a lawsuit she had filed in June.
The misdemeanor conviction can be punished with up to a year in jail.
Read the full story from our media partners at the Denver Post here.
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