mizdarby Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 The House of Commons is about to start debating a Law Against Trolls or, as they would call it, an amendment to the Defamation Act. It would basically let internet providers off the hook for the publication of their content, so long as they signed up to divulge the identity of any of their users. To warrant such a disclosure, the injured party would have to show that their reputation had been significantly damaged; then they would be given the offender's identity, and would be free to pursue a civil case. Online abuse still won't be a criminal offence, even if the bill is passed. It has wide support in parliament, so is not intended to be a very heated debate: I want to watch it to see how many MPs actually know what a troll is. The spectre of the internet troll, is one of the most distasteful side effects of the openness of the internet. The case of Darren Burton (aka Nimrod Severn), brought to light by the BBC, was a serial troll, fond of leaving racist messages on RIP facebook profiles, is an example of the lowlife that to all effects 'bully' people on social media like twitter. Another example is Sean Duffy who posted this comment'I fell asleep on the track lolz' on the tribute page of Natasha MacBryde who was killed by a passenger train. Should my government (or perhaps more importantly should your government) make the act of internet trolling a criminal offence. Or is the individuals' right to anonymity of paramount importance, thus making it impossible to enforce any anti-trolling law. Would a anti-trolling act be a form of censorship of the internet. If trolling did become a criminal offence, what sort of 'sentencing' would be appropiate, a jail term, or just financial sanctions to compensate the victims of trolling. My stance is, trolls that post comments with clear racist/promoting violence against women/or things that are currently illegal tones, should be 'outed' and their rights to anonymity waived, and though my preferred sentence would involve sharp knives and sensitive body parts, I would settle for the victims gaining financial recompense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 (edited) Nothing involving the internet should be made illegal. Its fine how it is now and we don't need anyone regulating it. It is pretty much the only "place" you can go and say whatever you want. It is the only true place for freedom of speech, and we don't need anyone messing that up. Is this actually a serious discussion? Hard to believe that people support suppressing freedom of speech just because someone makes them mad. Having a open internet has some downsides, but that's what you have to deal with for freedom. How about realizing no one is actually serious online half of the time? Having the internet open is far too important to have it destroyed due to people getting mad. Edited August 2, 2012 by marharth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitchieTheMerc Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Meh. Things like internet trolls can never and will never be properly regulated. It's just impossible. With regards to the racism thing, yes, because racism is currently a crime it should be treated the same on the internet, whether spoken or written down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyYou Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Considering that trolls aren't even necessarily in the same COUNTRY as their victims...... I don't see how this is going to make any difference at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vindekarr Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 (edited) Short answer? yes. Long answer? yes, it isn't going to be the most sure-fire working law, but there'll be exceptions, exceptions where it protects some poor vulnerable guy who may otherwise have been pushed over the edge. And even one is enough to justify it, IMO. It may also, if we are outstandingly lucky, make the internet a more polite place, which wouldn't be a bad thing. Marhath-there's a legal case going on in Australia at the moment about a particularly twisted troll who sought out people who were considering suicide and then harrassed them for weeks, encouraging them to commit suicide. It's not the generic "u mad?!" trolls the law's mainly targeting, it's the genuinely twisted ones, or so I understand anyway. Edited August 2, 2012 by Vindekarr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 (edited) Short answer? yes. Long answer? yes, it isn't going to be the most sure-fire working law, but there'll be exceptions, exceptions where it protects some poor vulnerable guy who may otherwise have been pushed over the edge. And even one is enough to justify it, IMO. It may also, if we are outstandingly lucky, make the internet a more polite place, which wouldn't be a bad thing. Marhath-there's a legal case going on in Australia at the moment about a particularly twisted troll who sought out people who were considering suicide and then harrassed them for weeks, encouraging them to commit suicide. It's not the generic "u mad?!" trolls the law's mainly targeting, it's the genuinely twisted ones, or so I understand anyway.If someone is harassing you online it is pretty easy to completely block them if needed. Forcing people to be polite is not going to work, and isn't a great idea anyways. Edited August 2, 2012 by marharth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginnyfizz Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Nothing involving the internet should be made illegal. Its fine how it is now and we don't need anyone regulating it. It is pretty much the only "place" you can go and say whatever you want. It is the only true place for freedom of speech, and we don't need anyone messing that up. Is this actually a serious discussion? Hard to believe that people support suppressing freedom of speech just because someone makes them mad. Having a open internet has some downsides, but that's what you have to deal with for freedom. How about realizing no one is actually serious online half of the time? Having the internet open is far too important to have it destroyed due to people getting mad. Darnit I said I was out of debates but I cannot help but reply to this. How serious an internet trolling campaign have you had run against you, marharth? I have been on the wrong end of a pretty vicious one (I will go into no further details). The upshot being that I was advised by the police not to have any social media accounts for my own protection. What price the freedom of speech of the victims, if they can effectively be chased off the interwebz? So are you in effect saying the trolls should have free reign to drive off their victims? That's just like saying the schoolyard bully should be allowed to get on with it. And no, it isn't THAT easy to block them, especially if they are hunting in a pack. That being said, for the very worst cases of trolling it may be the case that they already constitute a criminal offence that can be dealt with by arrest or injunction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 That being said, for the very worst cases of trolling it may be the case that they already constitute a criminal offense that can be dealt with by arrest or injunction.That is pretty much what my point is. If it is so bad that you can't simply block or ignore someone, it is probably already illegal in another way. Making laws specifically for the internet is a bad idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginnyfizz Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I tend to agree, for the reasons that I stated. A lot of the worst stuff can be treated as harassment, incitement to various types of hatred, blackmail, using threatening words or behaviour, already a criminal offence. Also some types of criminal have as bail conditions being banned from using the netz to some extent, certainly from contacting their victim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyMilla Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 There is already such a law: Teenager Arrested In England For Criticizing Olympic Athlete On Twitter http://www.guardian....weets-tom-daley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now