Matthew J. Ruff Internet Law Blog on Lawyers.com

 In an effort to curb the violence and threats of violence against the states teachers, California has enacted new stalking and criminal threats laws, the state has now made it a a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 1 year imprisonment and/or a $1,000 fine, to publish information on the internet or otherwise, describing or depicting an academic researcher or his or her immediate family member, or the location or locations where an academic researcher or an immediate family member of an academic researcher may be found, with the intent that another person imminently use the information to commit a crime involving violence or a threat of violence against an academic researcher or his or her immediate family member, when the information is likely to produce the imminent commission of such a crime. Any academic researcher about whom information is published may seek a preliminary injunction enjoining any further publication of that information. The new law is codified in Penal Code section 422.4.

It is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 1 year imprisonment and/or a $1,000 fine, with intent to place another person in reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of the other person's immediate family, by means of an electronic communication device, and without consent of the other person, and for the purpose of imminently causing that other person unwanted physical contact, injury, or harassment, by a third party, to electronically distribute, publish, e-mail, hyperlink, or make available for downloading, personal identifying information (including, but not limited to, a digital image of another person, or an electronic message of a harassing nature about another person) which would be likely to incite or produce that unlawful action. For purposes of this section, the term electronic communication device includes, but is not limited to, telephones, cell phones, computers, Internet Web pages or sites, Internet phones, hybrid cellular/Internet/wireless devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), video recorders, fax machines, or pagers. See Penal Code section 653.2.

A California criminal defense lawyer familiar with these types of crimes can be of tremendous assistance in resolving a case brought against an individual.  California law does permit diversionary dispositions in an affort to minimize the impact a criminal conviction might have on a persons record.