Arizona criminal harassment law provides, in relevant part:
A person commits harassment [a class 1 misdemeanor] if the person knowingly and repeatedly commits an act or acts that harass another person or the person knowingly … [c]ontacts or causes a communication with another person by verbal, electronic, mechanical, telegraphic, telephonic or written means….
"[H]arass" means conduct [excluding] a {lawful demonstration, assembly or picketing} [1] that is directed at a specific person and [2] that would cause a reasonable person to be seriously alarmed, annoyed, humiliated or mentally distressed and [3] the conduct in fact seriously alarms, annoys, humiliates or mentally distresses the person.
This pretty clearly covers certain kinds of unwanted communications to a person (e.g., repeated unwanted seriously annoying phone calls). But does it also cover communications about a person? The statute does specifically cover one such communication: making "a false report to a law enforcement, credit or social service agency against another person." But what about true statements, or expressions of opinion, about someone that are reasonably seriously upsetting—e.g., complaints to employers, which might put the target's job in jeopardy (surely something that would seriously alarm, annoy, humiliate, or mentally distress people)?
