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Tasmanian Cops Decline To "Censor Internet"

Posted by samzenpus on from the don't-feed-the-trolls dept.

aesoteric writes "Tasmania's police force has taken the unusual step of asking the public to stop alerting it to every 'abusive or harassing' comment posted to Facebook or other social media sites. The force said it was 'increasingly receiving complaints' about material posted to the sites, but sought to clarify that 'the use of technology to undertake some conduct does not in itself create an offense.'"

7 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Its Tasmania FFS by spire3661 · · Score: 5, Funny

    What a devilish insult, it really bugs me. You must be daffy spreading this FUDD.

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    Good-bye
  2. Dodgy headline on TFS by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Saying that "Tasmanian police decline" to do something implies that they are actually empowered to do so as a matter of course. I suspect the Tasmanian police cannot censor the internet, and even if they were given a court order only limited censorship could be attempted (likely with even more limited success).

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    Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    1. Re:Dodgy headline on TFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I suspect the Tasmanian police cannot censor the internet, and even if they were given a court order only limited censorship could be attempted

      I agree! The Tasmanian police definitely need to be given wider powers to deal with incivility on the internets. Remember when you criminalise Facebook, only criminals will use Facebook. Which would be a pretty convenient way to round up criminals if you think about it.

  3. Re:The real issue... by oztiks · · Score: 5, Funny

    THATS IT IM CALLING THE COPS!

  4. I'm Telling Dad! by Aereus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does this smack anyone else as really immature? It reminds me of siblings threatening to tell your parents about something. Or telling the teacher if someone is picking on you in school. Do they honestly think this is a worthy use of their police resources by having a thin skin and crying to the police about every random person that says something about them on the internet?

    1. Re:I'm Telling Dad! by Craefter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It IS immature. I believe that the general public (especially Facebook users) does not develop mentally past the 14 year old stage. Sure, people get "older" (if you cut them in half and count the rings) but that doesn't mean they automatically get "wiser". I think the biggest downside here is that those people like to use their birthdate for a measure of respect they should be receiving.

      Now get off my lawn!

  5. Actual Tasmanian here, giving you some context... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Without being to specific, I can give you some context here as an actual Tasmanian.

    Right now Tasmania's police force is being forced to make such strict budget cuts. The budgets are so razor-thin that some outer-metropolitan police stations are having their staffed hours cut back to 10am-4pm on weekdays.

    Beyond that, anyone with a finger on the pulse of the Tasmanian community will tell you that while there is a great deal of respect for the job our Police do, there is a broad lack of community confidence in our state court system. As an all-to-common example, last month someone received a wholely-suspended sentence for ripping the heads off of two kittens in front of their owners. No I'm not making this up.

    When you look at these in context and take a step back, it's pretty obvious that all Tasmanian Police are saying is that they don't have either the resources or the legal power to do anything about online harassment. Unless an actual violent crime linked to online threats take place there's nothing material that they can do anyway, so people are far better off taking their complaints further up the chain to someone empowered to actually do something about it.

    Bloody mountains from molehills...