Keep up-to-date with drugs and crime

The latest research, policy, practice and opinion on our criminal justice and drug & alcohol treatment systems
Search
The law can’t cope with crimes on social media
The ideal is for social media networks to police themselves, but you only have to look at some of the outrageous, sexually violent tweets that many women routinely encounter online to know that this approach isn't always sufficient.

Careless whispers

A new report (February 2015) from Big Brother Watch entitled Careless Whispers: how speech is policed by outdated communications legislation makes for an interesting read.

The report argues that while social media has revolutionised the way in which we communicate, the law has not kept up with the main legislation (section 127 of the Communications Act 2003) which was enacted before Facebook or Twitter even existed.

[divider]

Social media crimes

Although information from police forces was limited, it is clear from the table below that the number of social media crimes investigated and prosecuted is rising rapidly. The figures (which were obtained via a Freedom of Information request) are for charges and conviction for Section 127 Communications Act and Malicious Communications Act offences for the three-year period November 2010 – November 2013.

police soc med offences

As you can see, more than a quarter of communications offences in Suffolk relate to cases involving social media. It seems to me a reasonable assumption that the number and proportion of communications offences involving social media has increased in the 15 months since November 2013.

[divider]

Obsolete law

Big Brother Watch argue that the outdated nature of the law is why we are seeing an increase in legal cases involving comments made on social media. The most notorious example is of course the #Twitterjoketrial in which Paul Chambers was convicted of using a “public electronic communication network” to send a “message of menacing character”. In plain English, he sent the following tweet (apologies for the poor quality reproduction, the original was, of course, deleted a long time ago):

twitter joke trial

Mr Chambers later had his conviction overturned by the High Court and in June 2013 the Crown Prosecution Service published guidelines on how to prosecute cases involving social media.

Big Brother Watch find these guidelines unsatisfactory; in particular they take issue with the guidance that “prosecutors are required to demonstrate the case would be in the public interest before any trial proceeds.” Adam Wagner, a barrister specialising in civil liberties, argued that he couldn’t think of a single case that could be brought in the public interest which wouldn’t have a “disproportionate chilling effect on free speech.” [You can follow Adam on Twitter @adamwagner1]

In addition to arguing for a reform of the law,  the reportbig borther watch report also quite reasonably calls for the police to adopt a standardised approach to recording and combating social media crime. Without a reliable evidence base, it’s hard to scrutinise whether the law is being used proportionally.

My view is that we still have some way to go before we get the balance right between preventing victimisation and preserving free-speech. The ideal is for social media networks to police themselves, but you only have to look at some of the outrageous, sexually violent tweets that many women routinely encounter online to know that this approach isn’t always sufficient.

 

Share This Post

Related posts

Criminal Justice
Can Twitter indicate local crime rates?

Intriguing study finds that twitter can reliably indicate prevalence of certain crimes, although only in low-crime London neighbourhoods.

Innovation
Using social media to assess risk

Could the probation service soon be using computerised algorithms to assess risk of harm to the public by the automatic search of offenders’ Facebook posts?

drink driving
Policing
What do we know about drink drivers?

As always, it is difficult to speculate how accurately these figures reflect the amount of drink and drug driving on our roads. While drivers are routinely tested when they are involved in serious accidents, the majority of arrests for drink and drug driving reflect police activity.

Digital Engagement
MoJ takes #notorevengeporn campaign online

Revenge Porn is the sharing of private, sexual materials, either photos or videos, of another person, without their consent and with the purpose of causing distress.

Featured
How burglars use social media

Criminals and law enforcement officials are early adopters of new technologies and social media in particular in their battle to outwit each other. There are plenty of ways in which burglars in particular can develop their lean systems to target and gather intelligence on potential victims and minimise the risks of getting caught. Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare are particularly straightforward ways of finding out if someone is away on holiday or business. Google StreetView makes advance reconnaissance a piece of cake. The infographic below summarises some of the main techniques in current use…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe

Get every blog post by email for free