We are an an incredible interesting point in time with regards to the legal system and modern day communications.
Twitter has become a tool that is now not just used by geeks like myself but by celebrities of magnitude and everyday people from all walks of life, all with equal say and therefore liability.
Reading this article really emphasises the potential seriousness these communications can have. Stan Collymore only a few years ago was in the mainstream press himself for a number of incidents. Back in those times the masses learned of these cases initially either in a printed newspaper or on television. Nowadays there is direct access to these well known people by Twitter and the like. Game changing and revolutionary without question.
I personally have concerns of what the law can do about this and implications of resources going into these cases. If every single complaint made to the police is going to be investigated with intent then, then a situation of ‘how long is a piece of string’ could realistically materialise. The police and authorities in the United Kingdom are already clearly stretched. With the financial crisis and cuts their resources will be held back not reinforced.
Morally the person should be punished, racial abuse isn’t acceptable. However how much emphasis is going into this over something far more important such as a murder. If large amounts of people started contacting the police over online abuse how are these cases identified and filtered on merit of offence?
On this particular issue many questions could arise such as:
These are all questions which will need to be answered as well as countless others. Languages, culture, communication, power, free speech and the legal system combined, make for very dangerous grounds. Watch this space.
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