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Updated: 8.07pm
SENATOR LORRAINE HIGGINS has said her cyberbullying bill is not intended to curb freedom of speech.
Higgins said the proposed legislation is about “curbing abuse and threats in our online world”.
“It is an internet safety bill which is designed to protect children who might cry when they look at their computer screen, whose esteem is damaged, who have become withdrawn and don’t want to go to school.
“It’s about their parents who feel powerless to help and protect them. It is about restoring decency to our online debates and engagement. It’s about internet safety. And, tell me, who could possibly be against that?”
Speaking during a debate in the Seanad this evening, Senator John Crown said he could not support the bill as it was “well meaning” but has the “potential to undermine freedom of speech”.
Crown said abuse victim Mairia Cahill‘s use of social media to share her story would technically have been illegal if the bill was law.
He said her online campaign has “caused quite a bit of alarm, distress and harm to people who deserved to be alarmed and distressed”, noting Cahill’s intentions were “not done maliciously but done intentionally”.
With this in mind, he said the bill is “potentially very dangerous”.
Higgins said she felt compelled to act when members of the public came to her with their own experiences of cyberbullying after she spoke out about her own online abuse.
The Labour Senator has previously been threatened with violence online, once being told she’d be hatcheted in the face. She has referred a number of incidents to the gardaí and one of the men who threatened her has since written to her to apologise.
Higgins said the “legislative vacuum” that exists in this area is “nothing short of a failure on the part of legislators” which has lead to young people taking their own lives.
The bill passed second stage by 23 votes to four.
Prison terms
Higgins’ bill would make it an offence to share any message that incites someone to self-harm or take their own life. If found guilty, a person would face up 12 months in jail, or a fine of up to €5,000.
I’ve had so many people contact me about their own specific experiences online … teenagers telling me they have self-harmed as a result of online abuse.
“I’ve had people with disabilities itemise the horrible abuse they sustain continuously because of their conditions and I’ve had a grown adult contact me who made a mistake and was subject to a very public campaign of ridicule.”
Higgins said that while most people engage in online discussion in a positive way, “There is an element on our online community who want to drag people into a bottomless pit of negativity, smother them with abusive and threatening messages and keep them in their sewer.”
The Senator has written to social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Ask FM querying how they deal with bullying and complaints. She said she has not received any response to date.
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Would photoshopping a turkeys head onto someone else’s campaign poster and posting it onto twitter be a form of cyberbullying?
How dare you use logic. You are clearly a troll, and thanks to Higgins, you will be going to prison.
Really do wish I had a second name at this stage
a different second name. she’s has never been elected, failed her last 4 and now she rams through this rubbish
In fairness, she says she’s just trying to restore decency. We should support that, because every attempt to “restore decency” to life always ends well; just think of how cheap laundry services must have been when we restored decency to human sexuality not so long ago.
Let’s face it, the behaviour she complains of is already illegal under various different pieces of legislation.
However, increasing resources to enforce existing law is more expensive, less visible and less politically advantageous than introducing new laws to “do something about it”.
Just in case anyone missed it, the never elected, no mandate from the Irish people, Lorraine Higgins is a complete hypocrite and a disgrace to politics. she’s a fantasist with persecution delusions, wasting Garda time over ‘vandalised election posters’, parking in wheelchair spaces, the list goes on, YOU HAVE NO MANDATE FROM ANY OF THE IRISH PEOPLE LORRAINE!!!! http://www.thejournal.ie/luke-ming-flanagan-lorraine-higgins-twitter-facebook-post-turkey-1453665-May2014/
“It gives politicians the ability to censor all online public criticism which might cause them “alarm” “annoyance” or “inconvenience”. Higgins’ bill allows for fines up to €5,000 and prison sentences of 12 months. Not to be outdone Pat Rabbittes proposed law seeks to have fines up to €75,000 and 5 years imprisonment.
The level of punishment sought by the Labour party can only have a chilling effect on many people using social media to engage in public debate. The only possible outcome, if these bills are passed into law, is an increase in the totalitarian potential of the nation state.”
https://soundmigration.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/labour-censorship-ireland-social-media/
Only if the turkey did,nt object.
She uses the classic communist/socialist tactical question – first invoke feelings and emotions and then ask “who could be against that”? If you say you’re against it, you become some kind of uncaring hateful person, therefore putting one in a position where it’s assumed you should be for it – Very very clever – straight out if the left handbook.
Be in no doubt that this is a very dangerous piece of legislation that an unelected (appointed by Enda to the Senad) citizen is putting forward and fat pat the clueless,
https://soundmigration.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/labour-censorship-ireland-social-media/
Shut up Lorraine .
practice what you preach Lorraine. You’ve trolled on social media, you’re not setting any kind of example.
Higgins … speaking of trolls how is all in your camp.
I particularly love how Lorraine says this bill is to ‘protect children’ where has this concern for children been since child homelessness has increased 500 percent under labour?
“The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation.”
― Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
Lorraine who herself cyber bullied Ming there a while back..would she admit fault to that I wonder?
She saw no problem with making fun of Ming Flanagan on Twitter. How unelected politicians get so much media attention and are able to influence decision making in this country is worrying.
If she is not an elected representative how can she be bringing in these laws where is the opposition on this
Shes not a politician she hasnt been elected.
She was placed in the Senate by Enda to push through undebated legislation, which she duly did, and then afterwards publicly demonstrated that she had no real understanding of the Water act.
She also attempted to use the senate to pursue a personal vendetta against a NAMA figure who refused to let her purchase properties for less than NAMA’s already rock bottom prices.
gobbledegook from Higgins,,,,will she be the first to be charged retrospectively for trolling Ming…turkey
Political Censorship at it’s worst. This is very worrying.
I can’t stand this woman.
A serious move on freedom of speech by this dictatorship…..do I get a 5000 fine
Does she realise these trolls are on the internet and not under bridges?
Lorraine who herself cyber bullied Ming there a while back..would she admit fault to that I wonder?
I think the definition of a troll is lost on the Senator
Turkey
I cannot stand this woman!
Lorraine Higgins – a labour politician who has been unsuccessful at every election, but got handed her senate seat by a Fine Gael man regardless.
And thats why labours f**ked.
Because of the Taoiseach’s constitutional right to nominate senators?
You make no sense…
He nominated a person who had been rejected by the electorate on every occasion that she ran for office. That’s making a mockery of democracy. We’ve spoken loudly and clearly time and time again; we don’t want Lorraine Higgins in any position of power here.
Why vote for Labour when all they will do is ask FG to do it for them.
Time for FG and Lab to merge.
As opposed to nominating already elected politicians?!
She’s probably won more votes from past elections than the vast majority of senators.
austerity drags more people into the sewer than trolls ever will.
There’s a very simple way to deal with cyber bullying, by closing your FB/twitter account or just switching off the computer.
Sure that’s ridiculous. Why should the victim of cyberbullying be forced out of social media because of a person or persons who feel obliged to go out if their way to purposefully hurt someone?
Because you choose to participate.
Not always true. In some instances the victim’s phone number is given out and all sorts of horrible texts are sent.
This spills into personal bullying soon enough!
Sure that’s also ridiculous. If I follow both your logics then the same must be said regarding physical bullying. Should a victim of physical bullying stop leaving their house and become a shut in? Are they not just “choosing to participate” by going outside?
boo hoo , she represents a party that is bringing misery on ordinary citizens , she should expect some fury , she needs to grow up
the internet and social media are part of people’s lives now saying they choose to participate is like saying someone who is best up on the street choose to participate. Victim blaming at its worse.
For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. ~John F. Kennedy
If you willfully participate in an online forum like Twitter and you want people to be sanctioned for offending you, you dont belong in a free and open society.
We had enough of this in Ireland in the past. Nutters.
@Richard Lippy…what you say is true…and most on here fully accept that. This particular story, with Higgins at its centre, is mainly attracting comments which Higgins has brought on herself. She’s an attention-seeker. and through her own stupidity, brought on a tidal wave of trolling against herself. She’s just too thick to accept that and is now attempting to legitimise her stupidity by making it a ‘national’ matter with herself as the Knight, saving young people from the awful plight she had foisted upon her by nasty people on the ‘net, in the streets, in the bars etc. She slagged off another Candidate, thinking she was the smart wan, it backfired, and now she’s a staunch defender of the cyber bully victim!!..and an Enda luvvie to boot!!
Oh Je*us Timmy “victim blaming”. A lip quiverer’s mantra.
Stealing from your place of employment is pretty low, how about a bill to stop misusing telecommunications in the workplace?
Lorraine is very proud of her new bill. Thats brilliant, you passed, got a D-. Maybe next week we might progress onto something new, maybe like homelessness or rent reform. Now lorraine, these are a little harder, there’s a lot of work involved, but if you work hard……..
Arrogant, incompetent politicians also almost drag a lot of people into a sewer as well but thats mostly due to very poor management and bad decisions from the politicians and leaving the people to clean up the mess after them!
I’m astonished that a person who has been soundly rejected by the people on numerous occasions has the ability to affect our democracy with legislation .
She’s vindictively using this bill to silence critics of her party , herself and is bitter because the people have rejected her , the seanad should have been abolished its being used by electoral rejects to punish the people.
Who is she? I’ve no recollection of voting for this lady?
Thomas, I only voted for the candidates that were put in front of me in my constituency at the last Election.
Does that make the other 160 odd TD’s irrelevant because I didn’t vote for them nor had the chance to vote for them?
She’s a plank by the way, but your argument is nonsense.
Would trying to push through a legislation without being nominated by the public be a form of bullying
So basically if I warn my fellow humans about the Orwellian New World Order and it causes them anxiety I can be jailed. Now do you guys believe me?
it depends in the case of for instance that young boy ronan hughs definitely but people here may say they feel sensitive about something and report you. i don’t believe anyone who was abused on line would go to a person who has done it to someone else.
Lose the eye Glenard. I thought you were one of them.
How does she get so much publicity she got only got a handful of votes in the European election. Better known for parking her campaign vans in disabled spaces and and photoshopping Dustin’s head on Ming. Not someone to be taken seriously.
I personally feel disgusted that this unelectable has a platform from which it can seek to curb freedom of speech.
She does not deserve the “authority” she has been awarded. The sooner obscurity claims her political career, the better for all of us.
Paul – I do believe I recall you were in full support for retaining the Senate back in the day.
I am fully behind a reformed, elected senate with more power to curb the excesses of a Whip led Dáil.
Abolishing it was an attempt by Enda to abuse early popularity to centralise power.
That, as Shatter might say, is fascist.
Yeah, because that is going to happen. We’re not stuck with the likes of her for the next 50 years, eh?
first off, im not elected to any post, can i bring forward legislation or do I need to be given a cushy, well paid public job despite the public making it plain and obvious they don’t want me to represent them? Second, i would like to know who these people who contacted her are, because im dubious as to their existence. Thirdly, will she make this retrospective so that her own comments about ming can be investigated? And finally, can she promise, if she runs for election again, and is not elected, again, to once and for all step back from public life completely?????? I will now go back to my own life in the glad knowledge that my taxes and the taxes of everyone in this country is being used to provide non elected people with public representative jobs that enable stellar bills like hers to be brought forward.
because taking a hit to your self esteem should never happen to anyone ever. this nanny state bullshit makes me sick.
Especially not some chronically unelectable, special snowflake senator. I suppose she has to justify that ridiculous salary and expenses regime somehow.
So this bill is for the good of the children then. Can we set up a journal comment section sweepstakes to see how long she can go before invoking this law to shelter her ego?
https://soundmigration.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/labour-censorship-ireland-social-media/ what she up to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
they are trying to suppress freedom of speech on the internet since the guy who owns the internet is not fg
There is something wrong with politics in this country when a person who couldn’t even get elected to Galway County Council in 2009 ( a time of a huge anti ff vote ) can attempt to pass a law that limits our freedom of speech. Shame on any politician who gives any support to this Mammy State self-serving guff.
“It’s about me” -Lorraine H
It irritates me so much that a woman who was rejected on no less than four separate occasions is in a position to influence legislation; to propose legislation. Her hypocrisy aside in relation to the Ming Flanagan episode, this is some serious BS. She’s only in her position because of Enda Kenny’s nomination to the Seanad; this makes a mockery of the opinions of the electorate who have consistently rejected her. What was it, 7% in the NW European elections, Lorraine?
I hope you voted to abolish the senate when you had the chance.
You know that she even ran for the Seanad and was rejected?
lorraine has never ever been elected to any position in governance. she is in the senate by kennys appointment. its important not to forget that.
many politicians and high profile people be in business law finance are getting exposed on the internet. this cyberbullying rubbish is double speak and cover for censorship.
ideas and information can be shared instantly over the web and citizen journalism is on the rise. people are starting to see through the bs of rte and many major media outlets…………….and those in charge are afraid of this.
i suspect this law is there to scare people into staying quite, not to bring them to court and heap loads of attention on the points they are making.
Lorraine Higgins can’t get elected and wants people to shut up saying it to her. It’s galling that this irrelevance gets to dictate who is and isn’t entitled to criticise politicians after her nasty campaign against Ming. If her bill passes, I hope Higgins is the first person charged under it.
Having thought about it a little further I am no longer amused, I am incensed. As many other posters have pointed out, this woman has sought public office on many occasions and has been rejected (rightly in my view). Here we come to the nub of the problem – the real threat to democracy. I, personally, could deliver six draft bills tomorrow, which I feel would benefit my fellow citizens and society as a whole. People would then be free to accept or reject my proposals as either beneficial or insane :-) This will never happen because this government in particular will not accept citizens petitions, and I am not in a position of ‘influence ‘. however, on the strength of this proposal it would appear that Any legislation, no matter how self serving or ill thought out, is worthy of consideration if it is put forward by someone ‘in the know ‘. I submit that this is the very antithesis of democracy when some ‘well got ‘ wagon can seek to impose her will on the rest of the population. Believe me, I could come up with a ton of crackpot legislation, none of which would be as egregious as this. A truly dangerous egotist, this one.
Will no-one rid us of this turbulent bag??? This horrible yoke ‘s endless quest for publicity is getting beyond a joke. is she related to Hugh, by any chance?
i think their sisters.
bloody sick of hearing about this , no one should take personal abuse I agree but Lorraine is way over sensitive and she clearly loves the lime light it brings
first of all sen hugging should be made produce the people she claims came to her ,,,,,but of corse she has used social media to abuse people as well remember turkeys to Europe aimed at luke ming was one of hers will she pay a fine or go to jail ,,,,,
??????
Would she be foolish enough to hire herself as her barrister?
Paddy Two Pints and his lovely wife, Mrs Two Pints, obviously!
on another (related) note. in a separate article on this forum the Journal tells us what our elected representatives have been “up to”. in that article they reveal that there were 41 citizens’ petitions presented to the Dail. since the Journal mentions it I would be obliged if the Journal could let us know what the petitions were and how many, if any, were in any way successful. Democracy, don’tcha know
Democracy is dead.
Attention seeking politician with an elections on the horizon. This seems to be a very dangerous piece of legislation.
children / teenagers killing themselves for being abused and bullied online all the time …NOTHING is done …a ‘politician’ gets it and a new bill is being brought in with jail te and fines.. sums up the governmemt really ..one rule for them and another for everybody eles
I hope this wont apply to telling people to go shove it up their holes…..
The thin end of the wedge, to silence dissent.
Fascism, – don’t you just love it.
FG, – Eoin Duffy, your founder & self-proclaimed Fascist would be delighted with you…
Lorraine Higgins is an empty headed, unelected , unrepresentative moron of the lowest order. Her bill is designed to curtail dissenting voices & opinion. If that’s not pure fascism then Enda Kenny is a great & fearless leader. Typical of this govt & all they represent. It won’t change a thing Higgins you ugly boot.
I have very little time for Senator Higgins, she seems like someone that is strolling through life.
That said, there’s not one thing in this article that I would disagree with.
There has to be laws in place so that there are consequences for cyber bullying.
At the moment, there’s nothing the Gardai can do.
For those saying it affects freedom of speech or stopping people from airing views against the government, which by the way deserves to be shown up for what they are as often as possible, where in the legislation does it day that?
On what grounds under this legislation would the Guards arrest someone?
This government are full of idiots, but, that doesn’t mean that this legislation shouldn’t be in place.
I would have thought it would be easy enough to simply amend the harassment laws, as they stand harassment by telephone is considered, the Internet comes down the same route as the telephone, so surely amending the word “telephone” to “telecommunications and telecommunication platforms” would suffice?
Harassment carries a fine of several thousand and or up to 7 years in prison.
And is that not what bullying *is*? A form of harassment?
Wrong.
“Harmful and Malicious Electronic Communication Bill 2015″
…and that’s what this Bill is……Harmful and Malicious.
Now off you go Higgins and have a good cry….this is all about you.
Section 10 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act covers this already, all it needs is for a couple of words to be inserted / changed.
10.—(1) Any person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, by any means including by use of the telephone, harasses another by persistently following, watching, pestering, besetting or communicating with him or her, shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) For the purposes of this section a person harasses another where—
(a) he or she, by his or her acts intentionally or recklessly, seriously interferes with the other’s peace and privacy or causes alarm, distress or harm to the other, and
(b) his or her acts are such that a reasonable person would realise that the acts would seriously interfere with the other’s peace and privacy or cause alarm, distress or harm to the other.
(3) Where a person is guilty of an offence under subsection (1), the court may, in addition to or as an alternative to any other penalty, order that the person shall not, for such period as the court may specify, communicate by any means with the other person or that the person shall not approach within such distance as the court shall specify of the place of residence or employment of the other person.
(4) A person who fails to comply with the terms of an order under subsection (3) shall be guilty of an offence.
(5) If on the evidence the court is not satisfied that the person should be convicted of an offence under subsection (1), the court may nevertheless make an order under subsection (3) upon an application to it in that behalf if, having regard to the evidence, the court is satisfied that it is in the interests of justice so to do.
(6) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—
(a) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both, or
(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years or to both.”
Simply change telephone to telecommunications and telecommunication platforms”. Done.
Absolutely no need for new legislation. Let’s call a spade a spade here, bullying *is* harassment.
There’s also provisions in that act for death threats. Simply add the same words into that and it’s covered.
Believe me, you need to have a lot of evidence to secure a conviction for harassment so it won’t be used as a tool for censorship.
That makes far more sense than what Higgins is suggesting.
does she ever stop looking for attention. who the hell does she think she is.
“Crown said abuse victim Mairia Cahill‘s use of social media to share her story would technically have been illegal if the bill was law.
He said her online campaign has “caused quite a bit of alarm, distress and harm to people who deserved to be alarmed and distressed”, noting Cahill’s intentions were “not done maliciously but done intentionally”.
With this in mind, he said the bill is “potentially very dangerous”.
Was Crown referring to this http://www.sundayworld.com/news/police-to-quiz-mairia-cahill
“Mairia Cahill is to be questioned by police about the alleged harassment of Catherine McCartney.
The Sunday World can reveal Cahill is to be quizzed by the PSNI after they received a complaint about repeated harassment of the sister of murder victim Robert McCartney via social media and telephone.”
If our politicians don’t behave in decent manner then what are people to do. The public have opinions and in a democracy we are entitled to express those opinions if they take this right away there will be trouble.
I’ve seen this story crop up every couple of months, and it really angers me. There is simply no justification for this law to be passed I myself have been the victim of serious cyber bullying when I was in school. It was an extremely difficult time for me, and not something that I would wish on anybody. I don’t believe for a second that this is what is being legislated for here. Laws dealing with abuse/threats exist already, regardless of whether they happen online or not. All that can come from this is a fear/persecution of self-expression online. I don’t agree that this will help children who have been bullied in this way, as primarily the culprits are other children. Pretty safe to say a 14 year old convicted of cyberbulling wouldn’t be handed a 12 month jail sentence. This is the main argument put forward for the bill here, and it simply doesn’t make sense. As for the legislation itself, there are so many loopholes/problems to consider: 1. Where is the line between bullying and justified criticism/dissent. It’s hard enough to distinguish in the real world, let alone online, where we all know the ssimplest things can be misinterpreted. 2. Apply the above to political discussion/debate. Look at the latest referendum and the emotion it brought out in people. If a similar referendum took place with this legislation in place (e.g. 8th amendment), how could either side possibly hope to debate online without fear of prosecution? 3. The internet is a global forum. It’s simply impossible to justify a situation where a statement online could be considered fine the world over, but punishable by a year in prison in Ireland. 4. The tech sector is one of the bright spots for employment in Ireland right now. Introducing net censorship is absolute madness when you consider the positive impact that companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook have brought to the country in terms of employment. 5. Look back at the debate on abolishing the Seanad. For me it was one of the first times I can remember the government campaigns being absolutely torn to shreds online, whether through the journal comments section, independent articles, or online in general E.g. The Beatles on Grafton street. With this type of law, completely justified criticism would be at best discouraged. 6. It introduces an easy escape route for politicians or otherwise that have been ‘found out’.Where’s the line to be drawn between losing an argument and ‘Stop Bullying me’. It’s a tactic that’s already used by plenty of individuals, but the thoughts of such individuals having a potential jail sentence as backup in this scenario are absolutely vile. In summary, I’ve got sympathy for those like myself who have been on the receiving end of online threats/abuse. I also feel that this doesn’t justify this legislation in any way whatsoever, and the potential implications of it being introduced are being grossly underestimated, or simply ignored.
She is correct. They’re are some very nasty, very sad people on T’internet.
Stop Trolling
Some of these people use fake profiles
The swine.
Make sure that when you are writing a persons initials do not forget to use a full stop .V.D .
I am now making an apology to the fake twitter account “David Doyle” for not using a full stop on his real name .It was an error.
that explains why Sinn Fein are not opposed to it
Bullying is the way our Politicians operate, Lowery, MC Creevy, Haughey, Gilmore, Adems, that’s all the parties I think worth mentioning.
Mindfulirish: dont forget Hogan, the biggest bully of them all.
Politicians just hate Social Media as it gives people a voice who otherwise wouldn’t get their opinion heard & it allows people to question & ridicule them. It a attack on freedom of speech & will get used to silence legitimate opinions. It a dangerous road to go down. Who gets to decide what is abuse anyway? What is abuse to 1 person, isn’t to another.
“It’s about internet safety. And, tell me, who could possibly be against that?”
Internet “safety” is in every users hands, it’s called ignore the people you don’t want to engage with.
Well I for one am against it. Freedom of speech is not lost in one fell swoop but incrementally and those removing it paint themselves as protecting it. They are the reverse-Voltaires, they paint their activities as ‘protecting rights’ the right not to be offended or insulted. In a free society these are not rights. It is doublespeak.
Can they not just turn off the internet at night to keep the bad people off it?
This is a further abuse of democracy by our mandateless government. The government abuses the democratic process by using legislation, already passed, to sneak in draconian legislation that will effect the lives of all citizens of this country. And then we have this unelected, and unelectable parasite, who had no problem indulging in cyber bullying herself, trying to stop people voicing their feelings, concerns, letting off steam, slagging, or taking the p*ss, out of politicians, or the actions of any government. We will be left victims of the propaganda of a very biased media, be it the press or national broadcaster. We wont be able to or have the right to question any government action, be able to inform ourselves, voice our objections, or organise ourselves to take action against any legislation that may adversely effect our lives.
That amounts to bullying by a very fascist government.
For one self to commit self harm or take their own life by way of cyber bullying, the person who forced this upon a human life should be charged with involuntary manslaughter not fined!!!!!
Actually they should get a medal.
I won’t submit to having my speech vetted by corrupt politicians and their legal minions. All this ridiculous unelectable clown has done is end her career and diminish the law by making it ridiculous.
freedom of speech , yeah boy ,just watch wat u say !
Not many people would complain if MairiaC was encouraged to give her mouth a rest.
But if Lorraine thinks the ban will not affect those with a ‘lawful excuse’ who is going to adjudicate?
This would mean censors working around the clock to guard against those posting without a ‘lawful excuse’ who may in good faith think they have just cause.
Must be the silly season, or maybe just silly Lorraine!
How about just turning off the screen and walking away? Don’t need the government to lock people away for “trolling”.
It’s all very fine passing another bill or even introducing a new law in order to protect victims of cyberbullying but when it come to serious cases how do we get them to a court case. How can we track the IP address of the aggressor when there is still no agreement of co operation between the Garda, the ISPs and the entities such as Facebook, snapchat or Twitter. We need this agreement in place so that when situations are reported to the Garda they can be throughly investigated and culprits traced and held accountable through the IP ADDRESS
You really are a total authoritarian Paula. Unfortunately there are too many people with similar opinions which is why this restriction on free speech can be introduced without many objections. The illiberal liberals are in the ascendancy.
have your say