If you’re like me, you probably use e-mails and texts for most of your communication with other people. E-mails and text messages are a great way to communicate with people, but be careful: once you hit the send button, you can’t take it back. And in Virginia, you can go to jail for up to 12 months if you’re not careful.
You may find yourself getting in a heated exchange with someone while you’re texting or e-mailing them. A fight with your ex-girlfriend, a dispute over a bill, a disagreement with your employer – the list goes on and on. And that’s where the danger lies. So think twice before you hit the “send” button.
Under Virginia Code sections 18.2-152.7:1 and 18.2-427, it a class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail and/or a $2,500 fine to send an e-mail or text using “obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious, or indecent language” or to make “any suggestion or proposal of an obscene nature, or threaten any illegal or immoral act” with the intent to “coerce, intimidate, or harass any person.”
Yikes.
So be careful, and think twice before hitting the “send” button. Take the high road instead.