Belfast woman may face prosecution for sectarian comment in relation to the Clutha Bar helicopter crash

Liz Bingham whose UVF father was shot dead by the IRA in the 1980s could be prosecuted after it was alleged she asked if there were any ‘taigs’ on board the Police Scotland helicopter or The Clutha Bar into which it crashed. Read more here.

This follows the arrest of a Scottish teenager who made sectarian remarks in relation to the same tragic event. Read more here.

Newton Emerson - PSNI turn blind eye offline while exercising firm hand online

In contrast with the averted legal gaze cast over loyalist murals and gable walls, Newton Emerson makes the point that the PSNI has not been as pliant when it comes to threatening words and images posted on social media walls. He said in the September 26 2013 edition of the Irish News:

"It is hard to avoid a comparison with the rise in social media prosecutions, and not just because Facebook messages are said to be posted to a 'wall'. Between 2009 and 2012, Facebook and Twitter were mentioned by the PSNI in almost 5,000 incident investigations. Over the same period, annual convictions tripled to 110 a year."

Newton then asked:

"How can the PSNI, the Public Prosecutiom Service and the courts chose to police this virtually infinite cyberspace for threatening words and images while ignoring a few dozen physical spaces right under their nose?"

He answered his own question:

"We are all wearily familiar with the answers. Paramilitary mural painters, unlike Internet trolls, would respond to lawful sanction with violence."

But perhaps a very real question needs answered: Are law enforcement agencies simply cherry picking those they chose to pursue within the infinite cyberspace, while allowing the more sinister and unruly elements to carry on unfettered?

DPP publishes full and final social media prosecution guidelines

June 20 2013, the CPS has published the full and final guidelines for social media prosecutions. The press release with a full list of links, relevant documents and guidelines can be seen here.

You can read the London Telegraph's write up here.

At least 653 charged with Social Media Crimes in 2012

On December 27 2012 BBC Radio 4 News at 6 reported that at least 653 people have been charged with crimes relating to the social media sites Facebook and Twitter. The statistics were accessed by the Press Association News Agency under freedom of information legislation. The statistics themselves came from just over half of the legal forces from England, Wales and Scotland.