Internet trolls in New Zealand who use deliberately harmful, threatening or offensive language could soon face up to two years in jail under the country's new Harmful Digital Communications Bill approved by Parliament last week.
Under a parallel amendment to New Zealand's Crimes Act, a person who tells someone to commit suicide could receive an additional year in prison, even if no suicide attempt is made, reported The Telegraph.
If a person is determined to have posted a digital communication with the intention of causing harm to a victim, they could be fined up to $50,000 NZD ($33,000 USD), while if a corporation causes intentional harm, it faces a fine of up to $200,000 NZD ($134,000 USD).
Supporters say the law will help mitigate damage caused by cyber-bullying and provide victims a quick and effective way to resolve the problem, while opponents have voiced concerns that it is overly broad and could limit free speech.
The law, which passed its third reading in Parliament last week with a 116-5 vote and is awaiting royal assent, reads in part:
A digital communication should not ...
- disclose sensitive personal facts about another individual.
- be threatening, intimidating, or menacing.
- be grossly offensive to a reasonable person in the position of the affected individual.
- be indecent or obscene.
- be used to harass an individual.
- make a false allegation.
- contain a matter that is published in breach of confidence.
- incite or encourage anyone to send a message to an individual for the purpose of causing harm to the individual.
- incite or encourage another individual to commit suicide.
- denigrate an individual by reason of his or her colour, race, ethnic or national origins, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.
The principles are designed to guide the court and the "Approved Agency," which will monitor and enforce claims, in "assessing whether a digital communication has caused or is likely to cause someone harm."
"We consider that the principles would provide a useful reference to help infer a common set of values when assessing whether the behavior was acceptable," the law reads.
The law would also add additional responsibilities for social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Once a site receives a court order to remove offending content, the Approved Agency will work with claimants and website owners to have the offending material removed. Failure by site owners to do so could result in $50,000 fines and/or prison terms, according to Techdirt.
The legislation was introduced following public outcry over the "Roast Busters" scandal involving a group of teenage boys from Auckland who allegedly sexually assaulted drunk underage girls and then bragged about it on social media.
During debates for the law, legislator Jacqui Dean admitted that there were concerns about it being too broad, but she asked fellow lawmakers to consider the children.
"There have been many thoughtful contributions on this Harmful Digital Communications Bill. I do acknowledge that it is a legislative response that some view as impinging on freedom of speech and perhaps might be too heavy-handed. What I would say is that the protection of our young people in particular - their protection from cyber-bullying - is so very important that I think this bill is a very good step, and I commend it to the House."
Speaking against the bill, MP Garth Hughes of the Green Party said the law's intent was noble, but its definition of "harm" was "irresponsibly broad" and could even target journalists in the country.
"It risks limiting our freedom of expression and the important role of the media in our democracy, and it introduces a precedent that one thing can be legal off-line but illegal online," Hughes said during debate. "I agree with the intent of the bill, which is to try to reduce cyber-bullying; however, I am opposed to the way it is achieved and currently drafted. I believe there are better ways to go about reducing cyber-bullying, such as the approved agency and funding education, without making a new criminal offence just for the digital world."
