The UK has a plan to crack down on cyber abuse: quadruple the current sentence. According to a BBC News report, a new amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill going through Parliament would allow magistrates to pass serious cases on to crown courts, where the maximum sentence would be extended. Under the act, it is an offense to send another person a letter or electronic communication that contains an indecent or grossly offensive message, a threat or information which is false and known or believed by the sender to be false.
BBC News quoted Justice Secretary Chris Grayling describing the purpose behind the new law: “[t]his is a law to combat cruelty – and marks our determination to take a stand against a baying cyber-mob . . . we must send out a clear message – if you troll you risk being behind bars for two years.” This raises the ultimate question: should social media be regulated? If so, to what extent? Additionally, what is the proper balance between regulation and the freedom of speech?
While the United States Constitution creates additional barriers to the passage of similar laws in the States, BBC News noted how supporters of this new law handled the balance between regulation and freedom of speech in the UK. BBC News quoted TV presenter Chloe Madeley on the matter: “. . . threats of any kind must not be interpreted as freedom of speech. Threatening to harm others is extreme and crosses the line of personal opinion into criminal behavior.”
Does it matter that social networking has become the most influential and powerful voice of the people? Ms. Madeley believes it does, and in the article she cites the strength of this new medium as one of the reasons why social networking must now be regulated.
Are there other ways to attack online abuse without resorting to additional laws or increases in sentencing? In the article, Labour MP Stella Creasy states that police and prosecutors need to improve their training on stalking and harassment to deal with online abuse. However, the article also notes the problems investigators face with determining the intent behind online text, an element required in most criminal laws that stand against online abuse.
One thing is clear: cyber abuse, cyber mobs, cyber bullying, cyber harassment, and all the other labels that have come to represent the rise in victimization through online text, is a global problem. Each country will ultimately have to determine whether to prosecute these harms by extending current laws or creating independent laws that create a new category of crimes. If this new amendment passes in the UK, a lot of eyes and ears will be tuned into the results.
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