The Law Commission has published proposals for protecting victims from harmful online behaviour; and the malicious sharing of information known to be false.
Online abuse is covered in the ‘communications offences’ found in section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 (MCA 1988) and section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 (CA 2003).
However, as the Law Commission – a statutory body that makes recommendations to government – points out, these laws’ offences do not adequately criminalise certain conduct – such as cyber-flashing (unsolicited sending of images or video recordings of the genitals) and pile‑on harassment (various people sending harassing communications to a victim), which weren’t thought of when the laws were passed. Bluetooth and intranets are not covered in the 2003 Act.
Prof Penney Lewis, Criminal Law Commissioner said: “As the internet and social media have become an everyday part of our lives, the amount of abuse has also risen. Unfortunately, the law has not kept up and isn’t giving victims the protection they need. Our proposals will tackle this harmful behaviour whilst also ensuring that we protect people’s freedom of speech.”
Consultation has opened today, and runs until December 18.
Comment
Jake Moore, Cybersecurity Specialist at cyber firm ESET, said: “Cyberflashing can be extremely troubling, so make sure you protect your phones and have Bluetooth connectivity, such as Air Drop, set up for just contact only. Users can make a change to the settings so that anyone can send files, and this is when you can potentially lose control of what is sent to you. The setting allows anyone to send an image to that device where – unlike other messages apps such as WhatsApp or SMS – the photograph automatically appears on the screen without any vetting.
Anyone who has seen any unsolicited messages must report it to the police or BTP [British Transport Police] if on the train. It is also worth changing the name of your device to something neutral rather than “your name’s phone”, where people can guess which device is yours.”
