Internet Trolling...should it be a criminal offence

[marharth]

Isn't that kind of what pranks are? Doing things that would be considered bad and possibly embarrass or hurt someone for your enjoyment?

 

Should pranks be illegal?

Some pranks are illegal, some others just mean a civil suit, exactly because they hurt someone or cause damage to property. Blowing up mailboxes for example.

What about verbal pranks?

[mizdarby]

Isn't that kind of what pranks are? Doing things that would be considered bad and possibly embarrass or hurt someone for your enjoyment?

 

Should pranks be illegal?

No pranks shouldn't be illegal. But say for example, you set off a bottle rocket as a prank, that shouldn't be illegal. But if that bottle rocket went through the neighbours' window, then you should expect consequences, of having to pay for the repair of the broken window.

So using bad words on social media/through emails etc, shouldn't necessarily be illegal, but if those bad words cross the line, and become vicious/vile personal attacks which cause harmful emotions in the victim, possibly to the point of suicidal tendencies, should have consequences, which should be similar to the consequences of the same verbal attacks, in the real world.

Apparently, an anti-trolling group in the USA, are trying to get trolling redefined as cyberstalking, which is already a criminal act, which I think would be an appropriate level of criminality for trolling. In many ways more extreme trolling is very similar to actual cyberstalking.

[Vagrant0]

Isn't that kind of what pranks are? Doing things that would be considered bad and possibly embarrass or hurt someone for your enjoyment?

 

Should pranks be illegal?

Some pranks are illegal, some others just mean a civil suit, exactly because they hurt someone or cause damage to property. Blowing up mailboxes for example.

What about verbal pranks?

Verbal pranks? Explain?

 

Technically most fall under slander... Just that usually the person being slandered doesn't have the money to press charges, or the thing being said doesn't really have any impact. If someone walks around town calling random people "idiot" "son of a *censored*" or "prostitute" it really isn't a prank... it's someone who likely suffers from some mental disease or deficiency, and not really anyone who is worth the trouble.

 

*edit* The profanity filter probably ruined that.

[marharth]

Verbal pranks? Explain?

 

Technically most fall under slander... Just that usually the person being slandered doesn't have the money to press charges, or the thing being said doesn't really have any impact. If someone walks around town calling random people "idiot" "son of a *censored*" or "prostitute" it really isn't a prank... it's someone who likely suffers from some mental disease or deficiency, and not really anyone who is worth the trouble.

Prank calls for example.

[Vagrant0]

Verbal pranks? Explain?

 

Technically most fall under slander... Just that usually the person being slandered doesn't have the money to press charges, or the thing being said doesn't really have any impact. If someone walks around town calling random people "idiot" "son of a *censored*" or "prostitute" it really isn't a prank... it's someone who likely suffers from some mental disease or deficiency, and not really anyone who is worth the trouble.

Prank calls for example.

It depends on the nature of the prank, the humor of the recipient, and what harm comes from it. Pranking 911 or similar with a fake call, or making a fake bomb threat or other hinting at some other terrorist act, just to see people afraid however is illegal.

[marharth]

It depends on the nature of the prank, the humor of the recipient, and what harm comes from it. Pranking 911 or similar with a fake call, or making a fake bomb threat or other hinting at some other terrorist act, just to see people afraid however is illegal.

So in extreme cases it is already covered by other laws correct?

[Nintii]

sued for defamation.

Not really what is in question. Calling someone a jerk is not defamation, it's an opinion and isn't claiming to be factual. It is offensive though, which is what is in the crosshair. Trolling or making an offensive comment isn't defamation.

 

 

Agreed, but I'm talking about someone who does defame your character ... a politician or political, social or economic view can be challenged or countered but to "attack" the person's character is where we must draw the line.

It's here where we should have the option of legal recourse.

 

Chasing down someone to constantly critisize and harrass them ... here a legal injunction should be in force to prevent them from that type of behaviour if need be.

However, having said that, you would in many cases find that the Troll who lives up to his reputation as troll does indeed cross the boundary between harrassment and defamation ... it's almost like wet on water, you won't find the one without the other.

 

Where I stay it is very very difficult to fire someone, the laws protecting the worker are really stacked against you, I didn't say it was impossible ... there are many ways to skin

a cat ... but your "I's" need to be dotted and your "T's" crossed ... believe me it's a mission and a half to get rid of someone.

Now there was this company I know of that had an employee who would constantly cross the boundary until he was just one "written warning" away from being fired.

 

This guy would stop just there and wait until the time period of six months I think it was to pass where you as an employer had to wipe your

employee's slate clean as far as transgressions go ... yup written warnings had a shelf life.

Then as the new time period commenced and he had a nice clean slate he'd go back to his old tricks and start his nonsense again.

This he did countless times until eventually his company got so fed up with him that they told him to just go home and not to worry he was not fired ... "Please just don't come back, we will pay your salary every month but stay away".

 

Why this story ?

 

Well that guy in my story never really got to the place where he had to face the music for his actions, he always just escaped ... and eventually he got away with it.

Trolls should be prosecuted ... not given a warm blanket and a cup of soup ... no, beat the buggers up in court make them feel it ... a few examples of this will make the rest think twice.

 

Though they might not defame your character in this instance, there should be a restraining order against them harrassing you, just like a wife beater.

And if this court order is violated then in degrees of severity you should be able to sue them as well.

Fortunately there are haven's of respite like Nexus that won't even allow you to use the word "jerk" ... bravo indeed.

Edited August 4, 2012 by Nintii

[ginnyfizz]

I see people trying to make a distinction between trolling and harassment. Sometimes there is no distinction. A persistent trolling campaign, such as the one I was the victim of, can cross the line into both defamation and intimidation.

 

I disagree that people who are obviously mentally disturbed should necessarily be ignored, they have been known to convert their disturbed ramblings into action. So they certainly need to be addressed if they start to utter threats, although psychiatric treament rather than banging them up would be the answer.

[Vagrant0]

It depends on the nature of the prank, the humor of the recipient, and what harm comes from it. Pranking 911 or similar with a fake call, or making a fake bomb threat or other hinting at some other terrorist act, just to see people afraid however is illegal.

So in extreme cases it is already covered by other laws correct?

You can't really compare real life pranks to online trolling. Real life pranks are usually easier to track down in those cases where harm or distress is the result of the prank. If someone is calling your phone repeatedly to harass you, you can just ignore them and they will lose interest or escalate to a point where a law is broken and charges are pressed. Relatively few people would go through the trouble of buying a pre-paid cellphone to make excessive prank calls, and just throw the phone away before anyone can find out who it is... Since all of this costs something to that person. And even then, in extreme cases, a cellphone can be tracked down to a place of purchase by the serial number, locations can be tracked down based on activation logs, from a store and time of sale you can get a photo of the person from store security, potentially a credit card number if used for the purchase, and potentially a license plate or make/model from the parking lot cameras. There is relatively little you can do in a modern, urban area that does not leave some evidence. The only question is if it is worth the trouble to find that person.

 

Trolling however usually cannot be tracked down, and in some cases it can be very difficult to prevent. Trolling has no real cost to hide your identity since it is relatively easy to use a proxy and setup any number of accounts with phoney credentials. If the person has any connection to a hacking group, they pretty much have to screw up badly, or get someone else to hack them to get caught.

[Ghogiel]

 

Agreed, but I'm talking about someone who does defame your character ... a politician or political, social or economic view can be challenged or countered but to "attack" the person's character is where we must draw the line.

It's here where we should have the option of legal recourse.

 

 

Ad hominem illegal? eh, ok.

 

 

 

I see people trying to make a distinction between trolling and harassment. Sometimes there is no distinction. A persistent trolling campaign, such as the one I was the victim of, can cross the line into both defamation and intimidation.

I see people trying to equate an offensive post on the internet and harassment. Is there always no distinction? constructing your argument around a troll who is either mentally disturbed or crosses the boundaries into harassing and threatening behaviour is essentially a straw man. These conditions are probably not met in 99% of offensive posts on the internet.