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The UK Government is looking to crack down on severe Internet trolling, raising the current maximum prison sentence from six months to two years if the amendment to Criminal Justice and Courts Bill as well as the Malicious Communications Act go through.
This news follows on from the harassment of TV Presenter, Chloe Madeley, the daughter of well known presenters, Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. The new law would also give police more time to collect evidence for their prosecutions.
Speaking with the Mail on Sunday, Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, said: “These internet trolls are cowards who are poisoning our national life. No-one would permit such venom in person, so there should be no place for it on social media. That is why we are determined to quadruple the current six-month sentence.”
“This is a law to combat cruelty – and marks our determination to take a stand against a baying cyber-mob. We must send out a clear message – if you troll you risk being behind bars for two years.”
Chloe Madeley said she supported free speach and social networking but pointed out that the Malicious Communications Act is 10 years old and was drawn up before Facebook and Twitter gained mainstream prominence and widespread adoption.
Speaking with the BBC she said: “While I agree that spending time and money on trolls is somewhat disagreeable, social networking has become the most influential and powerful voice of the people, and the fact of the matter is it now needs to be regulated.”
The new Bill is currently going through Parliament and is due to be debated at the House of Lords later this week.
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KitGuru Says: Internet trolling can be a bit of a problem, the trouble is, UK police will run in to issues arresting the worst offenders if they live abroad. What do you guys think of this? Should severe trolls get as long as two years in prison? Is that too extreme? Is it not extreme enough? Let us know what you think.
omg, is this a joke? this means civilization? get in jail because of internet trolling? yes, this is capitalism, democracy, and bored executive government. please also make a law to jail people who fights over food tastes, ridiculous…excuse my english :/
depending on the extent of this may be a good or bad thing, if by trollng they mean cyber-bullying and heavy arassment, I comletely agree…. if they mean siple trolling, for god’s sake, we can all laugh at a good joke.
PHA, I could see a lot of politicians getting jail time now…
Is this story a troll???
No seriously, this is the dumbest thing i have ever heard. Y’know how to ignore internet trolls??? Just log off, simples. The only reason these people do what they do is because people bite the bait.
I am getting closer and closer to signing up for the Mars program, i really don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
This has to be a joke, or I hope it is. The Westboro Baptist Church can protest and make all sorts of Gay bashing comments and that is ok because of freedom of speech. So some kids or unemployed people with nothing better to do troll the net and they can be jailed? Trolls can be funny at times and make a dull day less boring, if they offend you sign out or ignore them, don’t feed a troll and he moves on. I think most people are guilty of trolling at one time or another.
I hope they realize that quite a bit of the internet trolling that goes around is a joke. It usually does nothing more than annoy people, this is seriously stupid, people hacking a game is more wrong and should be more illegal than this… Oh wait, maybe I gave them an idea… Whats next for going to jail? Our opinion? Or would that cause people to take action and be too radical?
Ive always thought that if our countries (in in the us.) really cared about us and our opinion that much, then they would devise a system where we, the people who kindof you know live and directly deal with the made decision, can vote for it. If we could vote on most things that go on or changes that can be made then it’d be much better because the declaration of independance wasnt supposed to be changed and im pretty sure there are only two legitimate changes that have been made, regarding free people and equality.
Sorry for the long comment but this is preposterous… Governments are trying to control something that was made free and has strived to stay like so every since it came into existence, if they begin controlling the internet (more kinda), then it is not going to be as diverse and good of a place. Where theyre going now its not gonna hold out much longer… Why do you think there are people making an “Outer-Net” Now, hmm?
The problem here is that this legislation got tied to “trolls” by someone who has no clue what the word actually means to most people on the internet. This doesn’t target what WE call trolls, dumbasses being idiots in the youtube comments, when they say trolls they mean people who send targeted malicious harassment towards other people online, such as threatening to kill/rape/harm someone. All this does is make what is ALREADY illegal to say/do to someone’s face, illegal to say/do to someone online.
FYI, The WBC would be illegal in the UK as inciting hatred based on sexual orientation, is illegal. (Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008)
For the people saying “Is this a troll” And “Is this a joke” …. Of course this story is a troll! And to think otherwise makes people look very stupid indeed!