The social media revolution has changed the way people communicate with each other. Yet, whilst our communications have evolved the way crimes are
dealt with has not and so we find ourselves using archaic legislation to police modern day crimes. Without exception, the laws that regulate what is said on social media platforms were passed before companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Ask FM became widely used.
The laws used to police our communications are woefully out of date. So says the privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch (BBW) in a report. According to BBW, there has been an increase in charges and convictions and cases involving the use of social media. BBW says that it’s important that the legislation which is used by police and prosecutors is examined to ensure it doesn’t become obsolete in light of new technology.
BBW calls on the police to adopt a standardised approach to record and combat what the campaigners term ‘social media crime’. For the full 27-page ‘Careless Whisper’ report visit the BBW website.
