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Australia Attorney General Proposes New Laws To Stop Twitter Trolls

Posted by samzenpus on from the tweet-nicely dept.

CuteSteveJobs writes "Australian Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has flagged new laws to end anonymous trolling via Twitter: 'Twitter should reveal the identities of the anonymous trolls who are breaking the law by abusing others online.' The new laws were proposed after trolls attacked Footballer Robbie Farah. Farah was later granted a meeting with the Prime Minister to to discuss social media abuse. Ironically today it was revealed that Farah himself had trolled the Prime Minister telling her to 'Get a Noose' on her 50th birthday."

3 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Australia doesnt have Free Speech provisions by The_Myth · · Score: 5, Informative

    The interesting thing that a lot of Australian Internet Users miss is that we (Australians) do not have a provision garanteeing or protecting free speech. All internet posts are pretty much covered under the libel and slander laws.

    --
    The MyTh - I am a figment of the Imagination - [Im Probably even not here]
    1. Re:Australia doesnt have Free Speech provisions by Vylen · · Score: 5, Informative

      The location of the server doesn't matter when it comes to defamation law in Australia. The test case was Dow Jones & Co. Inc. v Gutnick.

      Despite the article in question that allegedly defamed Australian Joseph Gutnick, was published by an American company and provided via American servers, the case of defamation was allowed to be tried in the Australian state of Victoria. The key point being that the defamation occurs at the place the communication is received (in this case, Australia), not where it is stored.

    2. Re:Australia doesnt have Free Speech provisions by CuteSteveJobs · · Score: 5, Informative

      Farah (a footballer) has demanded new laws and the Prime Minister (a lawyer) and Attorney-General (also a lawyer) agreed. It took journalist John Birmingham to point out to them there are already laws against this: Section 474.17 of the Commonwealth criminal code creates an offense, punishable by imprisonment for three years, of using a carriage service, and yes the internet counts, in such a way that a reasonable person would consider it “menacing, harassing or offensive”.. People have gone to jail. What more do they want? http://m.smh.com.au/opinion/blogs/blunt-instrument/time-to-take-a-deep-breath-before-jumping-on-trolls-20120910-25o81.html

      Free Speech is weak in Australia because there is no bill of rights and defamation laws are so tough you can't say anything bad about anyone which is a real problem if you are a journalist, let alone a twitterer.
      https://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/defamation.html
      http://www.thenewsmanual.net/Resources/medialaw_in_australia_02.html
      http://www.law.uts.edu.au/comslaw/factsheets/defamation.html