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Britain proposes jail for internet trolls

Topic: Social Enterprise

Britain proposes jail for internet trolls

Summary: The UK government is looking to extend the maximum jail term and also the time limit for prosecutions for abusive online communications from six months to three years.

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TOPICS: Social Enterprise, Government UK, Legal
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People found guilty of internet "trolling" in Britain could be jailed for up to two years under new government proposals, following a number of high-profile cases of abusive and threatening behaviour on Twitter.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: "This is a law to combat cruelty — and marks our determination to take a stand against a baying cyber mob."

There has been increasing concern in Britain about the growing scourge of internet "trolls" who post hate-filled messages on social media, often threatening their targets.

The parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann are among the most recent victims, and last month a man was jailed for 18 weeks for what prosecutors described as "a campaign of hatred" against a female lawmaker.

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"These internet trolls are cowards who are poisoning our national life. No one would permit such venom in person, so there should be no place for it on social media," Grayling said on Sunday.

"That is why we are determined to quadruple the current six-month sentence."

However, some lawyers and freedom-of-speech campaigners have warned that criminal sanctions should be the last resort.

"Do we want to criminalise every social conduct that we find problematic?" Barbora Bukovska, a senior director at campaign group Article 19, said earlier this month.

Prosecutions can currently be brought under a number of different laws, but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) last year introduced guidelines to address any confusion.

It said that messages sent via social media could be a criminal offence if they contain "credible threats of violence" or target an individual in a way that "may constitute harassment or stalking".

The government proposes to amend two existing laws to extend the maximum jail term and also the time limit for prosecutions from six months to three years.

Topics: Social Enterprise, Government UK, Legal

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23 comments
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  • Very nice

    It's always nice to have a reminder that it is the entire world that is being run by imbeciles and not just the US.
    blarelli
    Reply 10 Votes

    • USA+UK = fascists

      yes, USA+UK want to become the most fascistic country in the world, the best Police state

      looks like I will move to Norway/Denmark soon
      Jiří Pavelec
      Reply 1 Vote

      • Seriously?

        Scandinavian countries have the same politically correct enforcement that Great Britain has.
        blarelli
        Reply 1 Vote

        • He doesn't know that. He only knows what

          the three big networks and NY Times tell him, that Norway, Denmark and Sweden are utopias where no one is poor or has to work at any kind of job, and you can sit and smoke pot all day.
          baggins_z
          Reply 2 Votes

      • Righhhhht.

        So you should be allowed to say things that would get you jailed if you wrote them in a letter to someone, but because "Internet" it should be ok?
        dimonic
        Reply 1 Vote

    • Quite

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29692685

      The UK police are 'too busy' to prosecute actual criminals in possession of pedophilia material - makes you wonder why they are wasting time with relatively minor bullying and unpleasant name calling on the internet - where what is offensive or grossly officeive is often very subjective in nature and where people need a thicker skin, and to ignore/block fcukwits.
      SmartPlanetHunter
      Reply Vote

  • No one likes a troll

    but this seems a little ridiculous. Whatever happened to having a thick skin? Sue libellers, and the rest, mean people? Just ignore them... not worth the hassle.
    Mac_PC_FenceSitter
    Reply 1 Vote

    • I've never quite understood it either.

      Just unfriend the person, ignore the talkbacks, block the tweets or texts.
      baggins_z
      Reply 1 Vote

      • Part of the problem is...

        ...that kids are frequently defamed behind their backs. Yes, it's important to teach kids how to cope; but that's hard to do when the harassment is ongoing and constant. And even after the victims of bullying grow up, the scars remain for many decades, negatively affecting how former victims interact with others. Maturity and the perspective that comes with it help; but they're often not enough.

        Schoolyard bullies are juvenile delinquents and should be treated accordingly (adult bullies are criminals and should be treated accordingly). Doing otherwise is to consent to and thus to help perpetuate the abuse.
        John L. Ries
        Reply 2 Votes

    • There''s always a possibility...

      ...that trolls like themselves, but that's debatable. I don't know the details of the current proposal, but I suspect that all that are really required are to update existing harassment laws to cover electronic communications and then enforce them. Posting provocative material for the purpose of getting a reaction out of people (classic trolling) is often annoying, but it's not criminal. Inducing a young girl to kill herself is a crime, legal or not.

      And yes, parents and teachers *do* need to do a better job of helping the victims of bullying to cope, but that doesn't mean the perpetrators shouldn't be punished.
      John L. Ries
      Reply Vote

  • Perhaps

    it would be better to keep real criminals in prison. Or is this a move by Group 4 or whatever nefarious company presently running UK prisons to drum up business and increase dividends for it's shareholders.
    Pastabake
    Reply 3 Votes

    • Bullies are real criminals

      NT
      John L. Ries
      Reply Vote

      • I think my objection here is with the definitions

        To me, a troll is not necessarily a cyberbully. Cyberbullies should be prosecuted, trolls are just pests but are protected by freedom of speech laws.
        Michael Kelly
        Reply 1 Vote

        • Agreed

          I suspect that all that is really required to deal with cyberbullying is to update and enforce existing harassment laws.
          John L. Ries
          Reply Vote

  • Badly Researched Story

    A badly researched story, as you could already be jailed for up to 6 months on assorted other legislation on being defamatory, grossly offensive and causing distress etc.

    However, as there are repeated incidents of people being let of with lenient offences for actual crimes like burglary, assault, sex crimes etc.... or shocking instances like Rotherham where serious and organised mass sexual exploitation of children was wilfully ignore by the Police despite several whistleblowers raising it for various reasons (including political correctness and not wanting to offend racial minorities) it all seems like easy target driven crime, that can be used to skew statistics.

    As with most countries in the world, new legislation of not needed, just common sense proportionate and robust enforcement of existing legislation.
    SmartPlanetHunter
    Reply 2 Votes

  • Trollolololololololololol

    I have now done internet trolling. Send me to jail now.
    Jacob VanWagoner
    Reply Vote

  • The threshold must involve credible threats of violence.

    To use a US example, if someone is posting that the President should be impeached because of allegation X, that person is exercising First Amendmen rights (which have approximate parallels in Britain). But if that person is inciting others to attack the President or his family with an actual WEAPON, or expressing an intent to use a weapon against him, THAT is a THREAT and violates state and federal laws (besides getting the attention of the Secret Service). The frequent rants by politicians that if they lose at the polls, their voter base should consider a "Second Amendment" solution are right on the borderline (for non-US readers, the Second Amendment is the right to bear arms, which some interpret as protecting the "rights" of even violent criminals, stalkers, maniacs, and others to buy any kind of gun for any reason), since the only connection between that Amendment and political power would be armed insurrection; but when challenged, these same people are talking "hypothetically" or "in the worst case" by their standards.

    In the case of people in the public eye, publishing their addresses or other information which would enable personal confrontation could be understood as a threat, especially since such information is not relevant to any controversy in which they may be involved.
    jallan32
    Reply 1 Vote

    • Or intent to otherwise harm someone

      Harassment is a criminal offense and people are sometimes prosecuted for it (not often enough, says me). The purpose of cyberbullying is to isolate and humiliate the victim; so it should be treated as harassment, not free speech.
      John L. Ries
      Reply 1 Vote

  • It's all show.

    Playing to the audience. We are letting out real criminals, murderers and violent rapists, to lock up people who pose no physical threat.
    Increasing maximum and not minimum terms is used to give the impression that something is being done when it is not.
    Judges are just ignoring the guidelines anyway because there aren't any places and we have to make room for 80 year old men who touched a girls breast 30 years ago.
    Force majeure has taken over with authorities saying they can't jail everyone who downloads child abuse pictures and should concentrate on those actually committing or producing the images.
    Chipesh
    Reply Vote

    • Again, the details are important

      Trolls are merely annoying (no, trolling should not be illegal), but harassment is damaging even when it is not coercive in nature. And it should be remembered that while not all bullies go on to commit more serious offenses, every robber is a bully; every spouse and child abuser is a bully; all extortionists and blackmailers are bullies, all rapists are bullies, most murderers are bullies, etc. And juvenile bullies all too frequently grow up to be adult bullies.

      And I've long thought that corporal punishment should be considered for those convicted of violent misdemeanors as an alternative to incarceration.
      John L. Ries
      Reply Vote