Why Stormont must adopt new libel legislation

Paul Connolly wrote a piece in the Belfast Telegraph on September 20 2013 entitled, 'Freedom of speech is vital in internet age.' He said here:

"By everyone, I mean everyone. This is not just about the Press. It's about writers and scientists; it's also about amateur bloggers or everyone who sends a Tweet or writes on Facebook or who runs a community website, or who writes a Press release. We are all publishers now, so freedom of speech matters even more in the internet age."

At the launch of his Bill for libel reform on September 19 2013, Mike Nesbitt said:

"Reforming Northern Ireland's law of defamation isn't about protecting the rich and powerful. It is about ensuring thousands of jobs are not lost, that the growth potential of our universities is not hampered, and that journalists have maximum opportunity to responsibly hold the devolved government to account."

At the same event Lord Black, executive director of the Telegraph Media Group, said here:

"This is an issue which is of huge significance for the United Kingdom as a whole but most importantly for ordinary people, jobs and free speech in Northern Ireland. Let's be in no doubt, the stakes are very high. It is a liberalising, modernising law which will have real benefit throughout our society. That is why it is totally unjustifiable and completely inexplicable that people and businesses in Northern Ireland are being excluded from the real benefits and protection it will bring."

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?

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.

Anthony McIntyre - Irish News Working to Censor

You can read all about it here, here and here.

 

Simon Hamilton asks Judena Goldring of the Law Commission to Review Libel Law

The newly installed Finance Minister Simon Hamilton has said he wants to bring a fresh pair of eyes to this issue of libel reform. Simon Hamilton has now asked Judena Goldring, the chief executive of the Northern Ireland Law Commission, to look at the situation. He has asked the official body for reviewing legislation, to do the following:

"Assess the act, which is expected to be commenced later this year, and to advise me on whether any corresponding provisions should be introduced here".

Read the Belfast Telegraph report from September 16 2013 here. The editor of that paper, Mike Gilson appears impressed. He said:

"This is an important subject, and the UUP leader Mike Nesbitt and the Sinn Fein MLA Daithi McKay deserve credit for keeping up the pressure on this issue."

31 Writers and Poets Call for Stormont action on libel reform

Thirty-one leading writers, poets and playwrights – including novelists Colm Toibin, Roddy Doyle, Sebastian Barry,  Graham Linehan, Brian Keenan, academic and political analyst Lord Bew, poet Michael Longley and Lucy Caldwell have signed a letter to the First and Deputy First Minister Mr Robinson and Minister Martin McGuinness urging action to ensure that Northern Ireland does not become a forum for libel bullies.

They said that without reform to the libel system that "the people of Northern Ireland will enjoy fewer free speech protections than fellow citizens in England and Wales".

Their letter concluded:

"We call upon the Executive to redress this imbalance, and breathe life into the right that underpins all other rights: our right to freedom of speech."

The newly instllaed Finance Minister Simon Hamilton has commissioned an official report on the new Westminster legislation which will examine whether or not the new law should be extended here A public consultation on Mike Nesbitt's Bill was launched on Thursday 19 September.


Read more in full here.

Head of Stormont Communications - "FOI is flawed"

"FOI system is flawed for journalists, it's flawed for people here, it's flawed for owners of the information," says @Brownturf #co3media.
— Sharon Whittaker (@WHITTonTWITT) September 6, 2013

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.

Christopher Hitchens on England's pre-2013 libel system

Christopher Hitchens explained how his magazine Vanity Fair was sued for libel by Roman Polanski:

"Just for discussing this subject [child abuse] a couple of years ago, my magazine Vanity Fair was sued by Mr Polanski from Paris in London. Not in America but where he thought the jurisdiction would be easier on him. He didn't even have to appear in person because he thought that  might be risky. He made a video deposition. We claimed he had no reputation to defend. He walked away with a lot of our money on a libel judgement saying this couldn't be discussed."

Watch original video here from 4 minutes 50 seconds. Christopher Hitchens had previously explained what happened in a 2009 article for Slate Magazine. He said of the 2005 libel case:

"In July 2005, Polanski took advantage of the notorious British libel laws to sue my colleagues at Vanity Fair and collect damages for his hurt feelings. It doesn't matter much what the supposed complaint was—he had allegedly propositioned a Scandinavian model while purring about making her the next Sharon Tate—so much as it mattered that Polanski would dare to sue on a question of his own moral standing and reputation. "I don't think," he was quoted as saying of the allegation, "you could find a man who could behave in such a way." Say what? Anxious for his thin skin, the British courts did not even put Polanski to the trouble of appearing in a country where he has never lived. They allowed him to pout his outraged susceptibilities by video link before heaping him with fresh money. At this point, I began to feel a cold spot forming in my own heart. And then, just last December, while still on the lam, Polanski filed from abroad to have the original Los Angeles child-rape case, in which he had pleaded guilty, dismissed without further ado.

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."

UK libel laws undermined journalists in Armstrong Case

Lisa O'Carrol explained in the Guardian how the UK libel regime made things very difficult for the Sunday paper:

"Lawyers involved in the 2004 case said the Sunday Times did not stand a chance once the courts decided they had to produce evidence that Armstrong was an actual cheat.

Gill Phillips, one of the Sunday Times lawyers who dealt with the litigation and now director of editorial legal services at Guardian News & Media, which publishes MediaGuardian, said: "The way British libel laws are, the burden of proof lay with the paper. We did not have enough evidence to satisfy the burden of proof on the paper to show Armstrong was guilty. We had this body of very strong, but mainly circumstantial, evidence that was quite hard, but which was not enough to win.

"This makes it very difficult for investigative journalism. For all sorts of technical reasons, UK libel law makes it hard to write this sort of story, particularly when the evidence points to guilt, but doesn't actually prove it."

Lisa in full here.

Wall Street Journal - The UK's Doublespeak on Internet Freedoms

Ben Rooney in the Wall Street Journal here, called up the UK for government for its contradictory remarks on Internet freedoms. Ben Rooney made a first observation: 

"Here are two conflicting opinions about Internet censorship. Can you guess which government said which? You can chose from the following: China, the U.S., and the U.K. First: Democratic governments must resist the calls to censor a wide range of content just because they or others find it offensive or objectionable. Second: Put simply, there needs to be a list of terms—a blacklist—which offer up no direct search returns.

He then answered his rhetorical question: 

"It is a trick question. The U.K. government said both. The first was by Foreign Secretary William Hague, speaking at the Budapest Conference on Cyberspace in October 2012. The second was by Prime Minister David Cameron in July 2013 at a U.K. children’s charity event." 

Richard Susskind discusses online dispute resolution

It's reported that Ebay has to deal with 60 million disagreements a year. That is not dealt with through the courts but by the mechanism of online dispute resolution.

Richard Susskind explains how this process works at 22 minutes here.

Ruth Patteron, The Communications Act 2003 and the New Labour Terror Law

Mick Fealty covers (here) the legal analysis from Newton Emerson who said, writing in the Irish News, that Blair-era terror laws make prosecution against Ruth Patterson-type communications that bit easier.

Ruth Patteron was arrested and then charged on the grounds of making a 'grossly offensive communication' as per the Communications Act 2003 on Facebook. She will appear in court on August 22 2013 and has said that she will plead 'not guilty'.

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. 

 

Caroline Criado-Perez and Twitter abuse

Writing in the Times Libby Purves (@lib_thinks) gives her thoughts on the recent wave of Twitter abuse launched against the Jane Austen banknote campaigner, Caroline Criado-Perez:

"Until 1935 you didn’t need a driving test in Britain. Until 1967 there was no drink-driving limit, until 1983 no safety-belt law. Until the 1960s you could put up a sign saying “NO BLACKS NO IRISH”. Convicts could be birched till 1962; schoolchildren caned quite recently (it was in South Africa that enraged nuns would lay about me with a ruler, rosaries rattling, but contemporaries in the UK report the same). You could blow smoke in people’s faces in a pub or office till 2006. Thus the borders of what is acceptable and legal in any civilisation naturally change.

They do not always contract: we now have same-sex marriage, and a historically unprecedented range of personal rights. But new things happen (such as mass immigration) or are discovered (such as tobacco causing lung cancer) and philosophical perspectives alter too. So the rules change.

Paul Tweed defends libel veto

Paul Tweed defends the Stormont veto of libel reform in the Belfast Telegraph, July 31 2013. In full here.

"If the proposed changes to the defamation laws are ultimately introduced, it is the ordinary people of Northern Ireland who will be the losers – not the lawyers.

We, at least, have the option of practising in a jurisdiction where the libel laws are more friendly towards the ordinary citizen and international corporation and we do not have to travel very far."

Sinn Fein's Phil Flanagan to be investigated over Royal baby tweet

The relevant tweet was raised and pursued by Jim Allister MLA. Read more here.

Mary Beard - Naming and shaming Twitter Trolls

Kat Lay reported July 29 in the Times on the power of naming and shaming Twitter trolls:

'"The classical historian Mary Beard silenced an online abuser today by naming and shaming him on Twitter.

Ms Beard, who had been on BBC Radio 2 to discuss rape threats and other abuse on Twitter, retweeted an explicit message from Oliver Rawlings in which he referred to Ms Beard’s genitals and age.

After other users expressed their outrage, with one user offering to supply Ms Beard with Mr Rawling’s mother’s address, he took the message down and apologised.

He wrote: “I sincerely apologise for my trolling. I was wrong and very rude. Hope this can be forgotten and forgiven.”

He later added: “I feel this had been a good lesson for me. Thanks 4 showing me the error of my ways.”

His original tweet was apparently in response to Ms Beard’s description of abuse she had previously received on the site. She told presenter Jeremy Vine she had been “bombarded” with messages “commenting on the size, the smell, the capacity of my vagina. It was unbelievable.”

The don said exposing ’trolls’ was the best tactic. Talking to a fellow user about her decision to highlight the abuse, she tweeted: “It is a tough call. I have increasingly opted for name and shame."'

Michael Nugent - Getting rid of Ireland's blasphemy law

I've written this article for The Journal about why Ireland needs to get rid of our blasphemy law http://t.co/gj1ReQiKE2
— Michael Nugent (@micknugent) July 28, 2013

@michaelconor @JaneBDonnelly @geoffsshorts Well, you might believe the creator of the universe needs to be protected by Eamon de Valera :)
— Michael Nugent (@micknugent) July 28, 2013

A response:

 

Irish blasphemy laws embolden mistreatment of atheists and Christians worldwide: http://t.co/xlkm7QM2Fp @cemb_forum @TheRationaliser
— Geoff Shorts (@geoffsshorts) July 28, 2013

 

 

Judge Justice Horner - "Anyone who uses Facebook does so at his or her peril”

The perils of social media today's #belfasttelegraph pic.twitter.com/tdYHmXnRae
— Olivia O'Kane (@OliviaOKane1) August 3, 2013

Writing in the Belfast Telegraph, Olivia O'Kane of Belfast solicitors Carson McDowell quoted a judge presiding over a social media case. The judge, the Honourable Mr Justice Horner said:

"Before I go on … I should say that anyone who uses Facebook does so at his or her peril."

Olivia O'Kane then said in the Telegraph:

"Post at your peril... social media sites offer no protection from law."  

Read the court case in full here. Olivia O'Kane wrote further analysis on the Carson McDowell website here. Images of the original Telegraph article below:

The problems with Cameron's porn crackdown

Andrew Sullivan quotes a civil liberties activist here:

"Jim Killock, from the Open Rights Group, said Cameron’s plan was not only bound to fail but also sets a dangerous precedent of government intervention when it comes to freedom of expression and access to information. “I’m not sure censorship is ever the answer,” he said. “It’s a shocking attempt to claim the moral high ground. … I don’t think he fully understands what he is proposing.”"

Mike Nesbitt explains why NI needs libel reform

Mike Nesbitt wrote in the Belfast Telegraph on July 23 here:

"In all my years in broadcast journalism, I was involved in very few cases of defamation, but, of those that did emerge, all involved the political classes. Indeed, they all involved the DUP: two were brought by elected representatives; the third by those offended by comments made by one of their senior members.

So, should politicians declare an interest when commentating on the laws of defamation? They should certainly bear it in mind."

DUP use the old libel law to control the media and speech

Mike Nesbitt, Newton Emerson and Sam McBride explain why DUP vetoed libel reform

Mike Nesbitt was featured in the News Letter under a headline that roughly went: the rich and powerful are using the libel law to gag the media.

Newton Emerson said something to similar effect in the Sunday Times of July 7 2013, as you can see in the image below:

"The DUP has offered no satisfactory explanation for blocking Westminster’s Libel Reform Act… but the blizzard of writs the DUP sent Spotlight, both before and after the broadcast, highlights the unusually large role that libel plays in NI’s political discourse."

Editor may sue after paper Tweets her mobile number

From the Irish edition of the Sunday Times of July 14 2013 (page 3).

Cyberbullying should be crime in ROI says Irish report

From the Irish Times:

'The report from the Government’s special rapporteur on child protection, Dr Geoffrey Shannon, says there are few criminal prosecutions of reported harassment involving social networking, email or text messages.'

Read the original article seen above here. Since then a report by an Oireachtas committee has said that cyberbullying and suicide are not necessarily linked and should be treated as separate issues. Read more on that here.

Unpleasant odour coming from NI libel law says QC

David Pannick QC, a practising barrister at Blackstone Chambers in the Temple, a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and a crossbench peer in the House of Lords wrote in the Times on July 18 2013. He said here:

"The recently passed Defamation Act 2013 will introduce much-needed reform of an area of the law that has become an anachronistic, obscure and unjustifiable fetter on freedom of speech. It comes into force later this year. But not in Northern Ireland. The reluctance of Northern Ireland politicians to adopt the 2013 Act will, as a libel lawyer would say, lower them in the estimation of right-thinking people.

The coalition agreement promised a review of the law of defamation. The Government published a draft Bill, which was the subject of public consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny. This led to all-party agreement on the necessary reforms.

28 months for Facebook troll

Reece Elliott was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court for two years and four months, after admitting one count of making threats to kill on Facebook and a further eight offences under the Communications Act.

Read more in the Guardian here. 

DUP Censorship

Following the Spotlight investigation into Nelson McCausland's dodgy dealings, Sam McBride made an illuminating observation on DUP libel reform policy:

The volume of solicitors' letters from DUP to BBC over one Spotlight episode gives a pretty clear hint as to why DUP blocked libel reform
— Sam McBride (@SJAMcBride) July 3, 2013

Social Media Law in Ireland, Ctd a timeline of events

To understand the social media situation in Ireland we need to go back to December 28 2012 when the Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications announced that it would examine the role of social media in public life.

Committee chairman and Fine Gael TD Tom Hayes was instructed to lead the investigation and to report back to Minister for Communications, Pat Rabitte in early 2013. It’s also important to note that the decision to investigate social media fell against a dark back cloth: the recent suicide of the minister of state for agriculture, Fine Gael TD Shane McEntree. His death has been attributed in part to a period of social media abuse which followed an earlier budget announcement. 

Social Media and the Law in Ireland

T J McIntyre is a law lecturer and solicitor and has repesented Digital Rights Ireland. You can see his very worthwhile blog here.

He writes on IT and the law surrounding new technologies and media. He provided a comprehensive over of the laws that govern social media behaviour in Ireland which you can read here and here.

You can see the presentation and overview of the Irish law that covers social media below:

Arcane libel laws have contributed to patient deaths said doctor

Read the News Letter report in full here.

Index on Censorship speaks out against NI libel isolationism

Mike Harris, head of advocacy with Index on Censorship wrote a article, 'Stormont must give us a libel law fit for modern age,' in the Belfast Telegraph and on the Index website, available here and here. Mike wrote:

"To protect free speech, US President Barack Obama signed into law the US Speech Act to protect US citizens from the effect of English, Welsh and Northern Irish libel law, an act described as a “national embarrassment” by MPs. 

Now Northern Ireland is alone with its embarrassing libel law. The law of England and Wales has been substantially reformed after the Libel Reform Campaign won support from 60,000 members of the public and over 100 charities and campaigning groups and in response the Government passed the Defamation Act. 

Lord Bew says libel law policy is bad for NI universities and journalists

The News Letter hosted an edited version of a speech given by Lord Bew to the House of Lords on the Stormont decision not to import the recent libel reforms. Read in full here.

"The truth is that British provincial, what we might call old-style redbrick universities, are finding it more and more difficult in a competitive world to retain their remarkably strong position in league tables. 

We do not seem at this point to have a problem with keeping Oxford and Cambridge — or Imperial — right up at the top, but there is considerable evidence that universities such as Manchester, Glasgow and Sheffield are struggling in an intensely competitive world to maintain their relatively high positions in those league tables. Queen’s University Belfast is certainly not exempt from that difficult struggle. 

Lord Black says DUP Iibel laws put jobs and investment at risk

The Belfast Telegraph reported on the Tory peer, Lord Black of Brentwood who was speaking in the House of Lords following Stormont's decision to uphold the old libel regime:

"Lord Black of Brentwood has warned that media jobs are at risk because Northern Ireland will be in danger of becoming the "libel capital" of the world."

Lord Black of Brentwood in his own words said:

"When politicians set their face against the future, investment and jobs suffer. Over 4,000 people work in publishing in Northern Ireland and another 2,000 work in broadcast. Some of those jobs may well be at risk if some of those companies decide that it is now too dangerous to operate in a jurisdiction that stifles freedom of expression.

Lord Black also warned that foreign investors could be deterred from operating in Northern Ireland:

"I can see no circumstances in which Google, Yahoo, AOL, Twitter and others would establish businesses in an area that ties them to an out-of-date, repressive libel jurisdiction.This decision is, in effect, rejecting the high-end jobs that the province desperately needs."

Mick Fealty on Slugger O'Toole went a little deeper, he said:

"Most opposition that’s not coming from Jim Allister, is coming from the media. The retreat from political opposition on the hill (Phil Flanagan of SF seems to be the only other MLA playing that role at the moment), means that there is no coherent political critique of this and other issues available other than that which journalism makes on its own behalf. 

Besides one of the notable characteristics of the current set up is just how sensitive the folks on the hill are about anyone speaking out of turn. Hardly surprising since it so rarely happens in the chamber, that early (and often unreasonable/unsustainable) resort to the law has become commonplace."

Sam McBrides expresses fears over libel veto

Daily Telegraph chief warns that national newspapers may no longer be sent to NI after Sammy Wilson's libel bill veto http://t.co/9fJZTQnbc9
— Sam McBride (@SJAMcBride) June 29, 2013

Read more here.

Daily Telegraph and other national publications hint at leaving Northern Ireland

Daily Telegraph hints at leaving NI over DUP libel reform block. http://t.co/2O2j0DM126
— Newton Emerson (@NewtonEmerson) June 28, 2013

Newton Emerson in the tweet above drew my attention to the report that the Daily Telegraph has hinted that it may leave Northern Ireland because of the old libel law regime. Newton Emerson also made an interesting and very Emersonian remark on Twitter: on this occasion, on the DUP's readiness to pursue publishers and social media users for libel damages:

Twitter users who named girl that ran away with teacher may have broken the law

Twitter users may have broken the law by naming the girl who ran away with teacher Jeremy Forrest. Read more in the Guardian here.

Mike Nesbitt to introduce new libel legislation, while Paul Tweed denies lobbying

'UUP leader to introduce fresh libel legislation': headline from Irish News (£), June 27 2013.

Paul Tweed denied suggestions that he lobbied the DUP on the non-implementation of the Defamation Act 2013, as you can read in the News Letter here.

Mike Nesbitt and retired part-time judge said that the wealthy are controlling the media through libel law, available here.

Stormont Committee says new libel law not needed

The Stormont Committee for finance and personnel has been told that reform of the antiquated libel laws is unnecessary by a high-profile libel lawyer reported the Belfast Telegraph.

The Defamation Act has been implemented into England and Wales (April 25 2013) to stop the UK becoming a hotspot for libel 'tourists', removing the presumption in favour of a trial by jury in defamation cases. Libel lawyer Paul Tweed expressed his opposition to the introduction of the new law into Northern Ireland, saying it was not required.

The Belfast Telegraph continued:

Another lawyer, Brian Garrett, said he did not favour rubber-stamping all Westminster legislation, but there were areas where it should apply and defamation was one of those.

Sinn Fein's Daithi McKay said he was open to the question of whether or not there should be a presumption for trial by jury, and to the possibility of a no-win, no-fee arrangement in defamation cases.

A final note from myself that recently came to me: the conditioning of journalism by power is a real and ongoing problem. It’s something Orwell absolutely understood in his 1946 essay, Politics and the English Language. So we need to be very wary.

Read the full Belfast Telegraph article, published June 27 2013 here.

Mediatorsni.com launches

Podcast: "The most expensive tweet in history?"

The law firm Duane Morris hosts another podcast on technology law issues with Duane Morris partners Jonathan Armstrong (London) and Eric Sinrod (San Francisco). In the podcast they share insights on developments where technology intersects with the law in the EU and the U.S. 

Listen to the podcast in full here.

CPS Publishes Full and Final Social Media Prosecution Guidelines

Social media users beware: you cannot tweet with impunity. Social media has made publishing vastly easier, but it has not made publishing responsibility free. And while the law was caught sleeping, it is now clear: the criminal and civil can come after you and hold you to account. Ignorance is no defense. So take note, read the guidelines, understand the law and inform friends and family and other social media users.

The CPS have published final guidelines on prosecutions and social media. Please read them carefully: http://t.co/hfCbb2P0Lx
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) June 20, 2013

Before going into the detail of the black letter law I want to do a quick recap of the events which have led up to the publication, June 20 2013 of this new legal document. [Or you can just scroll to the bottom of the page where I have indented what the full and final guidelines have said which gives YOU what YOU really need to know.]

After a number of calamitous decisions to prosecute social media users, including the famous #TwitterJokeTrial, the Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC announced October 11 2012 that he would initiate a process towards creating social media prosecution guidelines after prosecutors expressed uncertainty about the existing law.

On October 17 2012 Keir Starmer QC suggested that 'Facebook and Twitter could need new legislation'. Keir Starmer then announced November 13 2013 at an Index on Censorship panel discussion that the publication of the interim guidelines on social media prosecutions was only weeks away.

Northern Ireland Social Media Guidelines to be published by the end of Summer 2013

Barra McGrory QC, Director of the PPS for Northern Ireland

On May 14 2013 we learnt through Niall McCracken on The Detail that the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service is drafting interim social media guidance specific to Northern Ireland.

However, no dates were given for when the Northern Ireland legal document would be published. Then coincidentally on June 20 2013, the Crown Prosecution Service for England and Wales published full and final social media prosecution guidelines.

Following the publication of full guidance in England and Wales I then asked the PPS when we can expect the publication of the interim social media guidelines for Northern Ireland. I received the following response from a PPS spokesperson:

"Northern Ireland guidelines are currently under development and it is anticipated that these will be published by the end of the summer."

When published, the interim guidance document will be accompanied by a period of public consultation. This will then lead on to either, full guidance or new legislation. It is highly unlikely that new law would be produced as there is enough on the statute book to prosecute mis-users as it currently stands.

Conall McDevitt of the SDLP said on Friday 22 2013 in a communication that he favoured social media prosecution guidance specific to Northern Ireland.

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.

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.

Olivia O'Kane responds - Should we be worried about libel Law?

In an article in the Ulster Business magazine, 'Libel law: should we be worried?' Olivia O'Kane responded at length:

"It should not have been a flat refusal. The NI assembly should at the very least reconsider halting the extension of libel reform to NI without having a proper, open and public consultation on the issue. There must be an open debate ominous NI about brining it back into line with the rest of the UK.  

The press are the eyes and the ears of society and watch as a public watchdog. Chilling press freedom of speech damages the public community at large.  

Belfast may lose 'libel capital of the world' title to Dublin, says Paul Tweed

I've discussed Paul Tweed twice before elsewhere, both here and here and the libel and media law specialist requires mention again.

On June 5 2013 Paul Tweed asked on the Huffington Post, Belfast or Dublin to Be the Next Libel Capital of the World? With the leader of the UUP working on his private members Bill which would bring legal parity with the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland's libel isolationism and the negatives and benefits it brings could be lost. Paul explains:

"Unfortunately, the newspaper had failed to show similar concern about the fact that Northern Ireland citizens have for many years been treated differently from their counterparts in the UK in terms of access to the libel Courts. Unlike the position in England, lawyers in Northern Ireland have in the past not been allowed to act on a "no win no fee basis", nor have After the Event (ATE) insurance premiums been recoverable, thereby making it even more difficult for the ordinary man on the street to obtain access to justice. 

Belfast High Court has issued 2 super injunctions in past 12 months

TUV Leader Jim Allister has established that in the past year a further 2 super injunctions have been issued by the High Court in Belfast.
— Stephen Walker (@StepWalkTV) June 13, 2013

More from Jim Allister who broke the news through an Assembly Question here.

"The growth of ‘super injunctions’ is a product of the courts being persuaded to prioritise privacy rights over freedom of expression and press rights within the Human Rights Act. I am far from convinced that this balance is weighted in the right direction, particularly where it is a facility which in practical terms is only likely to be available to those who can afford it. 

Since by their very nature such orders do not sit comfortably with the transparency expectations of modern society, it is, I believe, in the public interest that information about the number and lifting of super injunctions should be known."

More information from the BBC of what a super injunction is here and below:

Justice Minister Avoids Questions on Social Media

On may 20 2013 I put the following question to David Ford MLA in his capacity as Justice Minister for Northern Ireland:

1. Has sectarianism grown new legs through the misuse and abuse of social media? Are there effectively new online interface areas? 

2. What is the scale of the  challenge posed by social media to the PSNI? 

3. My figures obtained under FOI, relating to the number or social media incidents reported to the police, have shown exponential growth since 2010 - the number of prosecutions is also quote high. Therefore I ask, what guidelines are police using before:

i. Responding to reports of misuse and abuse
ii. Making an arrest following said report of misuse and abuse 

4. What standard are the prosecution services in Northern Ireland using before deciding to prosecute and individual?

5. What has changed since the February 5 2013 plenary session on social media regulation? 

6. Since February 5 2013 have you spoken with either Chris Grayling or Maria Miller? 

7. Of the options before you do you lean towards either: 

i. Tightening controls such as bringing in censorship measures?
ii. Bringing in new criminal controls as has been suggested by Pat Rabitte for ROI?
iii. Self-regulation and Educating people, especially young people in schools (as per here)? 

8. Do you intend to bring forward to Northern Ireland specific guidance for arrests and prosecutions relating to social media - or do you intend to use guidance produced by Keir Starmer (now stepping down from CPS)?

I received a response from the Office of the Justice Minister on June 12 2013. None of my questions were actually answered. And I won't have anyone suggest that I didn't ask them as presented above; so below is a screen grab of the original email I sent with relevant addresses redacted.

High Court Judge makes new Social Media Law (re: Breach of Court Injunctions)

Less than two weeks after the Hon. Mr Justice Tugendhat delivered judgment on the McAlpine v Bercow Twitter libel affair (see here and here), the UK's top media and libel judge has made new law and sent out another clear message to social media users.

Namely: the internet may have made everyone a  publisher, however the internet did not made publishing responsibility free. Therefore, don't say anything on social media you wouldn't say on a print newspaper.

This time round the message from the legal mill is a little more social media-user friendly. OK, to understand things we need to go back to here on Defero Law. In that post entitled, "Is Social Media Uncontrollable?" I talked about two men who posted images of the two men who killed Jamie Bulger. This was in breach of a court order; therefore there was a legal effect to their actions (see Social Media and the Law: Know Where You Stand, my blog on the Huffington Post).

The two men were originally convicted and handed down prison terms. Now this has changed. See tweets bellow from Adam Wagner.

TWITTER, READ THIS JUDGMENT! 2 men who shared Jamie Bulger killer pics get 9 month sentences suspended for 15 months bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/…
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) June 4, 2013

… Court says in future serious social media injunction breaches, unlikely jail sentences will be suspended. TAKE NOTE bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/…
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) June 4, 2013

Full judgement available below in tweet from the Judicial Office:

High Court judgment in HM Attorney General v Harkins & Liddle (breach of Venables/Thompson injunction) now available bit.ly/13CrlZj
— Judicial Office (@JudiciaryUK) June 4, 2013

This is another important step on the road to hammering out the law that governs activity on the social web. Just this time the judge has made new law that makes it clear what will happen if you publish comments online that breach a court order. And as Adam Wagner rightly said: "TAKE NOTE!"

This post originally appeared on the Twitter for Lawyers blog here.

Jo Glanville from the Campaign for Libel Reform slams the Stormont libel veto

Jo Glanville of the Campaign for Libel Reform is featured in the Irish News of June 4 2013, adding her voice to the strong dissent made by Michael Harris in the Belfast Telegraph the day previous. 

Facebook is to Tighten Controls on Hate Speech and other Misuse

Facebook blog post announcing the decision can be seen here. The BBC reported it here. Index on Censorship voiced fears about freedom of speech on BBC News. Hear some of the voices in support and in dissent of the decision by Facebook on Andrew Sullivan's blog The Dish here.

The McAlpine v Bercow High Court Hearing as it Unfolded on Twitter

Full stream of live tweets from (@JackofKent) who attended the preliminary hearing at the High Court in the case of Bercow v McAlpine. Full ruling by Lord Tugendhat here.

Today at 10.30am, ruling of High Court on whether #Bercow's "Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *innocent face*" tweet was defamatory at law.
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) May 24, 2013

Twitter is "inherently dangerous" says David Aaronivitch

The broadcaster and journalist David Aaronivitch (@DAaronovitch) has waded into the McAlpine/Bercow affair and has added his two cents to the debate. He's thrown up some interesting points and insights. Writing in the Times (full article here) the title and header where hard hitting, going like this:

Judge Tugendhat Sends Out Social Media Warning and Advice

From the Spectator quoting Lord McAlpine's solicitor here:

"In the meantime, vindicated Lord McAlpine’s solicitor sounds a clear and concise note: ‘Mr Tugendhat’s judgment is one of great public interest and provides a warning to, and guidance for, people who use social media."

This originally appeared on Twitter for Lawyers here.

"Mr Tugendhat’s judgment is one of great public interest"

From the Spectator quoting Lord McAlpine's solicitor here:

"In the meantime, vindicated Lord McAlpine’s solicitor sounds a clear and concise note:

"Mr Tugendhat’s judgment is one of great public interest and provides a warning to, and guidance for, people who use social media."

The Story of the Defamation Act in Northern Ireland (so far...)

The Press Gazette and other publishers recently suggested that the unilateral Sammy Wilson decision not to pass a 'legislative consent motion", which would have implemented in full the Defamation Act into Northern Ireland law, could hurt the devolved province. Lord Lester, the Liberal Democrat architect of the new libel law said the decision was a "very bad step" for the public.

The Good Law Initiative

Efforts are being made to simplify British legislation for the sake of people, businesses, politicians and even lawyers who struggle with incoherent and impenetrable law speak.

Read more in the Telegraph here.

Mike Nesbitt's draft Defamation (Northern Ireland) Bill in full

A former part-time judge Brian Garrett, the Ulster-born London barrister Austen Morgan and Jeffrey Dudgeon, chairman of the South Belfast UUP association all helped to draft the Defamation (Northern Ireland) Bill [as Introduced by Mike Nesbitt MLA (UUP)]

You can see the full text in the News Letter here.

Libel Reform Campaign letter to Stormont Committee

"I am writing on behalf of the Libel Reform Campaign regarding the Defamation Act 2013. The
Libel Reform Campaign was set up by Index on Censorship, English PEN and Sense About
Science to obtain major changes in the libel laws to better protect free expression. 

As you may know, the Minister of Finance and Personnel submitted a paper last May (2013) on adoption of the then Defamation Bill by the Northern Ireland Executive. By June, he had withdrawn the paper and without scrutiny by either the Assembly or the Executive, a decision was made by Mr. Wilson that the Defamation Bill would not be adopted by the Assembly.

Matt Bagott discusses Social Media and the Law in Northern Ireland (Alan Meban Interview)

Alan Meban, otherwise known as AlaninBelfast (@alaninbelfast) interviewed the Chief Constable of the PSNI Matt Bagott, in mid-April 2013 on social media and the rule of law. Here's what he asked:

Social media is a policing tool as well as a source of crime. Are we going to see a big increase in the number of arrests for online hate crimes and other offenses?

"I think social media gives people the opportunity to be foolish in the sense they don’t have to think so much about what they’re saying and the impact of that. How the law applies to social media is something that has had to be looked at in quite some detail in the past year. In England and Wales the Crown Prosecution Service only got to public guidance at the end of last year, 2012. So we’ve taken that guidance. 

At the moment what we’re doing is if we get what we think are offences being committed on social media we will report those to the Public Prosecution Service who will make the prosecutorial decisions. And we have prosecuted some people. But for what some people think is offensive, under the law may not be criminal, and that’s that gap. We’ve taken the guidance from England and Wales, the PPS are looking at that here at the moment, and where we do have overt offences we will pursue them but the laws not quite so straightforward as people think it might be."

Northern Ireland Law Society Talks Social Media

Compared to the Law Society in England and Wales and the one in Scotland, Northern Ireland's solicitor regulatory body has been pretty quiet on the matter and question of social media.

However it hasn't gone without mention and it appears that the Law Society in Northern Ireland is at least open to the idea of solicitors and law firms in Northern Ireland using and getting to grips with social media. How do I know this. Well because of an advertisement I found on Google that referred to a social media seminar for law firms to be hosted by the NI Law Society in June 2012.

The June 11 event was advertised here, and was hosted by the Law Society's Communication Officer, Paul O'Connor and Tim McKane of Belfast digital media agency, Novajo Talk.

Rising Number of Social Media Incidents in Northern Ireland - 73 in 2010, 1,541 in 2011, 2,887 in 2012

Read my analysis on eamonnmallie.com here. See the original document acquired under the Freedom of Information Act in full here. I acquired the information from the Chief Constable via the Justice Committee on February 19 2013.

Rising Number of Social Media Prosecutions in Northern Ireland - 152 in 2010, 142 in 2011 and 213 in 2012

Above is a screen grab of the excel document which gives a breakdown of the total number of social media prosecutions brought in Northern Ireland, in the year 2010, 2011 and 2012. You can see the full document here. This was accessed through the Freedom of Information Act.

The FOI document was acquired on February 15 2013.

Also, below is a breakdown of some of the specific offences and the specific law used to prosecute.

Matt Bagott explains his position on Social Media

Following correspondence with a Member of the Stormont Assembly, I acquired on February 11 a communications document from Chief Constable Matt Bagott which outlined the position of the PSNI in relation to the online world of social media.

"It is worthy of note that the Right to Freedom of Expression (Article 10 ECHR) is enshrined in UK law by virtue of The Human Rights Act 1998. Whilst this is not an absolute right the threshold to be reached for a prosecution is a high one. 

In recognition of the complexity of Social Media-based criminality, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for England and Wales, Keir Starmer, QC has issued interim guidance via the CPS. This guidance forms part of an ongoing consultation process on the future approach to tackling Social Media-based criminality. 

The DPP is recognised as a leading authority in Human Rights Law and was previously a Human Rights Advisor to the Policing Board. 

Within Northern Ireland the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has not yet adopted formal guidance of their own, however they are content for the PSNI to work to that issued by the DPP. 

Social Media related incidents/crimes are relatively new so there is presently an inconsistent approach to the recording of same on police systems. Whilst a number of cases have been referred to the PPS none have reached the threshold for prosecution. We will of course continue to work closely with the PPS in respect of such matters and refer individual cases as and when all investigative strands are complete. 

Moving forward, and to return to the specific points within your question, discussions have taken place around identifying steps to enable some method to enable us to easily identify social media offences so to allow for details to be more easily captured/interrogated. However, at this stage work in this area has yet to commence."

Read the communication with Matt Bagott in full here.

The French Lurch Towards Social Media Censorship

These are interesting times for social media. In Dublin Fine Gael TD Tom Hayes seems to be toying with the idea of bringing in the legal control of online communications. In England and Wales the director of public prosecutions has played it cool and has put the matter out to public consultation.