Police to get tough on internet trolls.

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Being able to debate matters and, hopefully, bring people round to an alternative point of view is something that I fully support. Fortunately, I don't believe that the Act will impact this.

Your excellent point was actually made during the consultation period, so should have been taken into account by the politicians.

If it makes people think twice before posting something (or how they phrase it), or it leads to site managers taking their responsibilities more seriously, that can only be a good thing that will drive up the the quality of posts, adverts, interaction overall and lead to, often vulnerable, people being able to enjoy the internet without being subject to various forms of abuse.

It involves more than that Richard. As it stands the compliance obligations (if this blog post by a regulartory professional is anything to go by) will be a nightmare.

Perhaps you should have a read of it.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by pip08456

It involves more than that Richard. As it stands the compliance obligations (if this blog post by a regulartory professional is anything to go by) will be a nightmare.

Perhaps you should have a read of it.

Thank you, that was an interesting read.

It's a real shame that the voluntary scheme didn't work. There have been many instances of people reporting material to Facebook who have simply been ignored!

I had cause to complain to them last Friday and the issue was resolved today, so I think that they are gearing themselves up for the Act already.

Ofcom didn't say which sites had been preparing their staff in readiness, but I think that there's a good chance that facebook is one of them.

I, like the last poster Russ, learned something new too. This is the first that i've heard about any regulatory fees, it appears that Ofcom are to cover their costs of regulation from the websites themselves, in the same way that TV & radio channels have to pay annual fees.

This will be pretty irrelevant to the likes of facebook, Twitter etc, but may impact small commercial sites or non profit making ventures run by volunteers.

Hopefully, there will be a sliding scale based on revenue or even an exemption of fees where this would be appropriate.

There was a mention of sites being able to evade the Act by relocating abroad or using VPN's. Whilst I don't understand the technicalities around their solution, it looks like they have amended the bill to cover this too.

If people were to be able to easily evade the scope of the Act, it would make a mockery out of it and be a complete waste of time.

[peanut]

"Crackdown on internet abuse may be scrapped if new prime minister prioritises other laws"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ises-laws.html

There's still some hope yet then...

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by peanut

"Crackdown on internet abuse may be scrapped if new prime minister prioritises other laws"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ises-laws.html

There's still some hope yet then...

I had wondered if the shenanigans in Parliament would affect this bill.

It has cross party support, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Originally Posted by peanut

"Crackdown on internet abuse may be scrapped if new prime minister prioritises other laws"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ises-laws.html

There's still some hope yet then...

That article shows exactly what the problem with it is

* The Online Safety Bill aimed to protect young people from online abuse.

It might have started life with this objective, but its gone way, way, way, beyond it.

* It threatened to slam tech giants with huge fines if they failed to keep users safe.

Again, this may have been a desire at one point, but its exceeded it massively, threatening ALL sites.

I'm sure it had good intentions when it was proposed, but its gone completely out of control.

What does "keep users safe" even mean ?
As a statement thats totally obscure and meaningless.

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by Paul

That article shows exactly what the problem with it is

It might have started life with this objective, but its gone way, way, way, beyond it.

Again, this may have been a desire at one point, but its exceeded it massively, threatening ALL sites.

I'm sure it had good intentions when it was proposed, but its gone completely out of control.

What does "keep users safe" even mean ?
As a statement thats totally obscure and meaningless.

Actually the link I gave Richard earlier really shows how bad it would/could be for small to medium sites.

Here it is again.

https://webdevlaw.uk/2022/07/11/your...e-safety-bill/

[RichardCoulter]

Perhaps Ofcom could charge the large/rich sites higher fees in order that the small poorer sites can have cheap fees or be exempt.

In addition this could pay for training for moderators etc for sites that can't afford it as it would be essential that they get this right with the possible penalties for these individuals being huge fines or even imprisonment.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by peanut

"Crackdown on internet abuse may be scrapped if new prime minister prioritises other laws"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ises-laws.html

There's still some hope yet then...

Excellent. There has been far to much function creep from the original reason for it. It will allow anyone with a grudge against a forum to flood them with complaints for frivolous reasons. As far as i see it the death of free speech is coming if this bill is not stopped.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Sirius

Excellent. There has been far to much function creep from the original reason for it. It will allow anyone with a grudge against a forum to flood them with complaints for frivolous reasons. As far as i see it the death of free speech is coming if this bill is not stopped.

You, like everyone else, had the chance to make your concerns known during the consultation period that I alerted the thread to.

---------- Post added at 21:02 ---------- Previous post was at 20:59 ----------

Online trolling was so bad that it nearly made singer quit music:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc...t-62176316.amp

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Online trolling was so bad that it nearly made singer quit music:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc...t-62176316.amp

Its called life, and the pressures of fame - you do realise both existed before the internet, right ?
Its also called learning to ignore comments you dont like, or just stay off social media if you cant take the negative.

You seem to think the world will somehow live in perfect harmony, it wont, ever.
You also (again) fail to grasp that this piece of garbage covers a lot, lot more than just facebook or twitter.

Ever heard of "a hammer to crack a nut" - this is more like a pile driver.
Its a bit like suggesting no one in a school should be allowed to speak to each other, because one pupil might say something another pupil might not like.

Everytime you post another random story your nieve view of reality pokes out a little bit more.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Paul

Its called life, and the pressures of fame - you do realise both existed before the internet, right ?
Its also called learning to ignore comments you dont like, or just stay off social media if you cant take the negative.

You seem to think the world will somehow live in perfect harmony, it wont, ever.
You also (again) fail to grasp that this piece of garbage covers a lot, lot more than just facebook or twitter.

Ever heard of "a hammer to crack a nut" - this is more like a pile driver.
Its a bit like suggesting no one in a school should be allowed to speak to each other, because one pupil might say something another pupil might not like.

Everytime you post another random story your nieve view of reality pokes out a little bit more.

The internet has made bullying easier to do and made it more prevalent.

My past posts have made it clear that this legislation involves more than just Twitter & facebook.

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

The internet has made bullying easier to do and made it more prevalent.

My past posts have made it clear that this legislation involves more than just Twitter & facebook.

I don't get bullied on face book twitter or any other social media site because i'm not signed up to any of them ,you should try it.

It's not internet trolls we need to worry about.It's the totally antisocial thugs that inhabit the real world and physically make our lives a misery in real time. There's legislation to deal with them but not the resources.If we start insisting that the police,courts deal with the internet bullies then where does the financial resources get redirected from? Yes the issues in the real world.

How about just ignoring the online idiots?They can't really affect you UNLESS you allow them to do so.Report stupid online abuse by all means but don't waste your efforts and resources on them.At the end of the day the only damage they can inflict is that which you allow them to do so.

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Maggy

It's not internet trolls we need to worry about.It's the totally antisocial thugs that inhabit the real world and physically make our lives a misery in real time. There's legislation to deal with them but not the resources.If we start insisting that the police,courts deal with the internet bullies then where does the financial resources get redirected from? Yes the issues in the real world.

How about just ignoring the online idiots?They can't really affect you UNLESS you allow them to do so.Report stupid online abuse by all means but don't waste your efforts and resources on them.At the end of the day the only damage they can inflict is that which you allow them to do so.

True but when it comes to social media, kids are particularly vulnerable and online bullying has ended in suicides.

[GrimUpNorth]

Originally Posted by peanut

"Crackdown on internet abuse may be scrapped if new prime minister prioritises other laws"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ises-laws.html

There's still some hope yet then...

Apparently, it was dropped from next week's schedule to make space for the government to introduce a no confidence in itself bill. So I stand corrected, this government does do something right now and again!

---------- Post added at 11:08 ---------- Previous post was at 11:04 ----------

Originally Posted by Mr K

True but when it comes to social media, kids are particularly vulnerable and online bullying has ended in suicides.

Surely there's better ways to protect children than this draft legislation. Better parenting would be a good start - being aware of what your children are doing in their rooms for all those hours might be an idea.