Neil Oliver - "The twitter block function is a truly liberating act. It's like having a light sabre."

@NEIL_OLIVER_: @almurray I've said it before and I'll say it again, the twitter block function is a truly liberating act. It's like having a light sabre.

Mike Gilson and Mike Nesbitt give evidence before the Finance Committee

Video of Mike Gilson here. Video of Mike Nesbitt here (2hr7m). Text of Mike Gilson here and text of Mike Nesbitt here.

How to deal with Twitter trolls

The trick with trolls is simple. Don't engage. Thomas Jefferson famously said:

"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."

A response is exactly what they want. It means their cruel enterprise has succeeded. Silence and non-response is failure for them. For as Nick Cohen said in The Spectator:

"I’ve noticed on Twitter that when someone responds to mad or sexist abuse, rather than ignoring the abuser or blocking him, there is a perceptible moment of delight when the ranter realises that – at last – he has hit his target and made her notice his existence."

Or, if you must, as we looked at here, you can name and shame those online abusers. A technique suggested and practiced by Mary Beard. She said:

"It is a tough call. I have increasingly opted for name and shame."

In the video above and here Duncan James also spoke about "naming and shaming" Twitter trolls. If the menace and abuse escalates you should contact a family member and the police.

DISCLAIMER: None of the above represents legal advice.

@clionakimber - Law struggling to keep pace with changes to social media

In an article that focused on heavily on civil wrongs and the civil liabilities of Internet users, barrister Clíona Kimber (@clionakimber) calls for new internet laws and for Internet service providers to take a proactive role in patrolling the online world. She said:

"It can be libellous to communicate in social media, including to tweet or re-tweet, a false statement which harms someone’s reputation. Likewise, if social media is used to publish private information about an individual it could give rise to a potential privacy claim. In both instances, it is possible to seek an injunction and damages. 

This is specialist litigation, and the courts are having to develop new approaches to deal with the speed and ubiquity of internet defamation. Some providers, although based in Ireland, raise jurisdictional issues essentially, maintaining any litigation must be commenced in California. An added complication is that the perpetrator of abuse – who more often than not will have posted under a false identity and/or using more the one account – has to be identified before action can be taken. Victims can get the civil courts to reveal the identity of the user by getting a Norwich Pharmacal Order."

Trolling happens offline too

The image above is of a letter sent by a troll to ESPN report Jemele Hill. Mashable wrote of the incident here:

"Even in the increasingly social media-driven age we live in, bigoted, vile and oftentimes racist trolling of athletes and celebrities isn't just restricted to Twitter. ESPN reporter Jemele Hill, who is African American, provided a wince-inducing reminder of that on Friday morning when she tweeted out a photo of a slur-riddled piece of hate mail from an ESPN Radio listener with a fondness for capital letters."

New technology always unsettles and sets fear in people. The Economist featured an article 'Social media in the 16th century: how Luther went Viral.' The same abuses, fear, hysteria and concern existed then as it does today.


Update

@brianjohnspencr indeed, I've received some choice handwritten letters, highlight included a sketch of me dangling from a hangmans noose
— Rebecca Black (@RBlackBT) February 18, 2014

Stormont debates e-safety forum and calls for schools to teach online safety

Debating Internet Safety Forum and Internet service provider self regulation of adult content @niassembly
— Chris Lyttle MLA (@Chris_Lyttle) February 10, 2014

On February 10 2014 the Northern Ireland Assembly proposed a motion to endorse and support Safer Internet Day 2014 which falls on February 11 and is celebrated worldwide. The motion said:

"Whilst [the internet] poses significant dangers to children and young people, used properly the internet can also positively affect social, economic and educational advancement; acknowledges that all users have a part to play in making the internet a safer and better place for everybody."

The motion made for two interesting recommendations:

1. Calls upon Her Majesty’s Government to encourage a cross-cutting approach to online safety by incorporating it into the school curriculum, by affording parents and carers easy access to sufficient information to take necessary action. 
2. [Encourage] businesses and industry to self-regulate their web-based content and services.

On the Monday evening the Members also discussed the January 22 2014 recommendation from The National Children's Bureau that Northern Ireland create an online e-safety forum and that organisations should improve collaboration to combat the threat. We covered the report and recommendations here.


UPDATE

Members endorsed and have given their support to the motion. Read the debate in full here.

James Delingpole - "Twitter is a publishing medium more dangerous than any that has ever before existed"

James Delingpole (@JamesDelingpole) wrote an article in The Spectator magazine, 'How Twitter almost destroyed me.' He called Twitter, "the perpetually gaping maw of the gigantic elephant trap that is Twitter." He said of the micro-blogging site here:

"Twitter is a publishing medium more dangerous than any that has ever before existed. The problem is that it is once trivially ephemeral and hideously permanent. Whatever your state of mind, whether you’re drunk or sober, depressed or euphoric, it’s there waiting to capture your every thought from the moment you wake up to the moment you check your Twitter feed one last time before you go to sleep."

Two plead guilty after sending abusive tweets to Caroline Criado-Perez

Two people have plead guilty after sending abusive tweets sent to UK feminist campaigner and journalist Caroline Criado-Perez. They will reappear in court January 24 2014 for sentencing. The BBC reports here. Caroline speaks on BBC Newsnight with Jeremy Paxman in the video above. On Radio 4 PM here and in the audioboo below.

listen to ‘Caroline Criado-Perez on today's Twitter verdict’ on Audioboo

US Media Law Firm SmithDehn eyes Northern Ireland

The US media law firm SmithDehn LLP has helped to create a media law course at the University of Ulster, furthering chances that the media law firm will establish operations in Northern Ireland. SmithDehn co-founder Russell Smith is on Twitter at (@rsmith8). Michael Cleaver of SmithDehn is also on Twitter (@mpcleave).

SmithDehn already has offices in London, but a Northern Ireland base would represent a further bridgehead into the European market and the growing entertainment economy in Northern Ireland. The move would also represent and a boon for the Northern Irish economy, possibly employing up to 75 legal professionals and be an attraction for further international investment.

What Are Positive Effects of Social Media in the First Hours of A Crisis Like the Boston Bombing?

This was the question put to a panel of speakers on the April 19 2013 episode of Radio 4's 'Any Questions?' The special edition was hosted by Columbia University in New York, a most fitting location for such as discussion. You can hear the discussion in full here.

Panel - Social media, politics and protest

I had the great pleasure of featuring on the panel event, Social Media, Politics & Protests at University of Ulster on social media and civic change on December 10 2013, organised by (@ornayoung). Alan in Belfast (@alaninbelfast) covered the event on Slugger here. Alan in Belfast also has audio here and here. Images from the day here.Tweets from the day via Storify here.

The TCD Social Media panel which preceded this event in October 2013 can be seen here. See my discussion with Sharon O'Neill of UTV on social media law here.

Below is a paraphrased account of my presentation from the UU event:

1. Overview of social media and the rule of law:

"In the last decade we've seen a creative technological explosion. Technology is ubiquitous. Technology has penetrated into every corner of life. It's power lies in the freedom it gives people. The freedom to build and maintain new and old relations, create businesses and overthrow tyrannical governments. 

But this is a two-pronged freedom. Social media gives the freedom to do great good. Social gives the freedom to do great bad. By that formula, social media is both a criminal weapon and a weapon of mass reputational destruction.

Dominic Grieve publishes advisory notes to help prevent social media users committing contempt of court

Twitter and other social media users have been warned that by commenting on court cases online they could be inadvertently be breaking the law. Dominc Grieve, the Government's chief legal adviser has issued previously unpublished advisory notes to help prevent social media users committing a contempt of court.

Read more here. Mr Justice Tugendhat spoke and made law here.

Joe Brolly - "Social media is not exempt from the laws of the land"

Short, sweet and to the point:

@rarogan Social media is not exempt from the laws of the land. I assume you have a shit hot legal team.
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) October 23, 2013

@JoeBrolly1993 @rarogan and just like that, everything disappears!!
— Nevan Higgins (@NevH1888) October 23, 2013

@NevH1888 @rarogan a bit late for that. I have forwarded his tweet to my legal team. They will be in touch.
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) October 23, 2013

Carson McDowell media lawyer and blogger Olivia O'Kane made an important contribution:

@C_Kilpatrick1 @OliviaOKane1 use with extreme care and remember you are publishing to the globe don't repeat false info&don't incite crime
— Olivia O'Kane (@OliviaOKane1) August 2, 2013

Gillian Tett - Polarisation in cyberspace tends to herald street fights

Gillian Tett made some critical observations in the FT on the role of social media. Writing here, she said:

"One small sign can be seen in the proliferation of Facebook pages in Egypt which have taken radically opposing and increasingly extremist sides. But another illustration appears in some fascinating new research by Ingmar Weber and Venkata Garimella, two data scientists at the Qatari Computing Research Institute, working in conjunction with Alaa Batayneh, a data analyst at Al Jazeera.

Lucy Kellaway - Teaching our kids to govern their online tongue

Lucy Kellaway puts it perfect in her column for the Irish Times: We need to educate our children on how to govern their online tongue, just as we do with them offline. We often tell our kids to "think before they speak"; And so, as George Monbiot has previously suggested, we need to "think before we tweet" and teach this social norm to our kids. As Lucy said:

"Most people do not relish being nasty in person: we have all been brought up to be polite to strangers, especially if we are breaking bread with them.

By contrast, on the internet our upbringing is non-existent. No one seems to think there is anything wrong with being gratuitously horrible – so long as we cannot be seen."

And so, as Lucy has suggested, we need to make our children's internet upbringing existent.

Social Media - "A weapon of mass reputation destruction"

Freedom of Speech is one of Four Freedoms paintings by Norman Rockwell that were inspired by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the State of the Union Address, known as Four Freedoms, he delivered to the 77th United States Congress on January 6, 1941.

Laura Hudson wrote on Wired Magazine here:

"At its best, social media has given a voice to the disenfranchised, allowing them to bypass the gatekeepers of power and publicize injustices that might otherwise remain invisible. At its worst, it’s a weapon of mass reputation destruction, capable of amplifying slander, bullying, and casual idiocy on a scale never before possible." 

In full and more anecdotes here.

2,111 Social Media-incidents reported to PSNI in first 6 months of 2013

The following question was put to the Chief Constable:

"To ask the Chief Constable to detail the number of arrests and prosecutions made in relation to offences on Twitter and Facebook in Northern Ireland in the year so far beginning January 1 2013, providing a breakdown of the arrests and prosecutions by PSNI Districts A-H." 

The following response was given:

"Currently, the PSNI does not record any specific offence types that relate to social media and therefore it is not possible to provide counts of arrests. In addition, the PSNI do not routinely record data in respect of prosecutions and this aspect of the request should be referred to the PPS and/or NICtS.  

To ascertain the true nature of any incident would require a manual review of the incident details to determine whether the incident related to a complaint, crime, or arrest involving social media, or whether facebook or Twitter was mentioned in the investigation log for other reasons. To carry out such a trawl would require the extraction of resources from core duties, which we are unable to facilitate at this time. 

However, I can confirm that the number of incidents where the words facebook or Twitter occur in the incident investigation logs is stated below:-   

2009 - 4 (The ability to search investigation logs was commenced on 14/10/2009)
2010 - 73
2011 - 1,541
2012 - 2,887
2013 - 2,111 (for the period, 1st January 2013 to 14th June 2013) 

It should be highlighted that above counts relate to reported incidents, rather than the number of individual arrests/prosecutions as previously mentioned.

In addition, if facebook or Twitter is mentioned in an incident investigation log, this does not signify that a crime or arrest occurred.

If facebook or Twitter are mentioned in an incident investigation log, this does not signify that facebook or Twitter were used by PSNI officers as part of the investigation.

 

Allison Morris - Social Media Gives Leg Up To Extremists

Writing in the Irish News Allison Morris makes some apt observations about the social media community in Northern Ireland:

"While social networking cannot be held solely accountable for the rise in sectarianism in the north, it is facilitating people wanting to shape the views and language of a generation of young people who conduct much of the social interaction online." 

And another:

"People who in life would have little chance of success due to their obvious limitations can go online and attract large followings of like minded groupies."

Over 1,700 cases involving abusive messages sent online or via textmessage reached Britain's courts

Over 1,700 cases involving abusive messages sent online or via text message reached Britain's courts in 2012. This news comes after the BBC lodged a Freedom of Information request.

More information on the BBC here. 

 

The PSNI are patrolling social media

The Detail has good coverage on the new policing habits of the PSNI in the new online world. Get some insights here.