but it sounds like the ideal weapon for the 'bunny boiler' ex girlfriend / boyfriend /wife / husband / civil partner to use in cases of acrimonious break-ups.

"If you leave me now, I'll show them all the smutty texts you sent. Ooooh No, off to jail you'll go!"

Hearts in the right place, heads up arses when it comes to understanding human nature. Slight improvement to one problem, massive new one caused.

This seems to be VERY open to interpretation, surely? As what is considered normal to one person might be considered perverted and filthy to another.

What are we to do.... send a text first saying "Warning, I'm about to send you some smut! please don't read if easily offended!"?

And will this law only apply to text sent internally in Scotland? or from and to as well?

Paris- Because we ALL know about the smut on her phone!!!

In "The Mikado" the only crime punishable by death was flirting. Sounds like life north of the border is now a comic opera.

Mines the coat with the opera glasses in the pocket.

Congrats Scotland,

you have officially managed to make a law which is so stupid that even the english government couldnt make it.

I use to work for a US company and one of my colleagues while out for a smoke was talking to another colleague about a site he owns which sells sex aids. An older lady heard this conversation by eavsdropping and he got fired.

Problem with all these things it common sense is out the window and the lunacy parties take place.

More garbage legislation. Offending people is not a crime. Hurting or damaging them or their property is. These do-gooders need to be told where to stick their daft laws.

Cue the entrance of a bunch of bitter ex's saying "He harassed me! Look! I never asked for him to send me this filthy knock-knock joke and it's humiliated me!"

Stupidity...

<--mine's the one with consent forms from everyone I text, just in case this spreads to England with a retrospective clause.

Fair enough piss-take headline, but if you get past the tabloid level for a moment this new bill is actually pretty good. It removes the criminalisation of young people for exploring their sexualities, it removes gender-based discrimination from the law, and it is generally a pragmatic and proportionate response to social changes. Speaking as someone who loathes the SNP, they have done well here.

If your "flirty" texts cannot be legally distinguished from those "clearly intended to humiliate", then frankly I'm glad not to know you.

> "Causing a person to see or hear an indecent communication is also an offence. It can be committed by reading "a passage in a book or magazine" or by communicating the sounds of actual or simulated sexual activity or by communicating in sign language."

So if the neighbours can hear you, you go to jail for 10 years!

Great

And I thought our government were insane

Paris, because I understand she gets noisy in hotel rooms

"The offence will be committed if someone sends an unsolicited text message to someone else which a court finds was designed to give the sender sexual gratification" ..... What offence when always successful?

And Ms Hilton because Her Modus Operandi/Vivendi could easily be Cited for Naked Incitement.

In the War on Drugs is the Answer always to say No Thanks, but Thanks for Asking. And so is it with every Sweet Temptation/Rabid Desire ..... for there is Always So Much More Elsewhere when you are Virtually Aware. In some Sects would that be a State of QuITe Immaculate Grace.

I guess that means flirting and dirty talk via text, phone, msn, e-mail, letter etc is out. What next, erotic works of fiction? What about if we say things in person, is that going to soon be illegal too? If they want to go that far, how about making it illegal to wear short shirts or show cleavage and take us back to the dark ages repressing us.

If someone is offended, they should speak up and explain and any people should communicate. There is no substitute for good communication in a relationship, of any sort. Lack of communication leads to asumptions, doubt and bad decisions.

I'm glad I live across the border... even though it is not much better off this side.

But seriously,

"Causing a person to see or hear an indecent communication is also an offence. It can be committed by reading "a passage in a book or magazine" or by communicating the sounds of actual or simulated sexual activity or by communicating in sign language." ?!

So any book that contains sexual description, any song that contains orgasm-like noises, any innocent I'm-not-sex-deprived-honest pen flicking between thumb and forefinger can be cause for arrest? Are they trying to become the deep south of Americaland? Perhaps we should all just never learn about anything sexual?

Ok, so sexual harassment is and should be a crime, if someone's targeting someone and the feeling ain't mutual then fair enough, but under that wording, simply writing a mildly sexually suggestive book (or even your own diary, for that matter) could land you in the nick.

Oversensitive gits.

Oh, and Evil Bill, just to give you all nightmares after thinking about sex and seeing that picture in the same moment.

...why these sorts of 'sexual crimes' are treated so seriously.

Something that would have seemed romantic 50 years ago is enough to land you in gaol these days.

We really are a nation of prudes.

Compare to a country such as Greece, where hardcore pornography (i.e. playing cards) are frequently sold on public display at toddler height.

Why are the British so sexually repressed as to treat anything remotely connected to sex as a Cardinal Sin?

Paris Hilton, because she would enjoy a few flirty texts... probably...

Remembering the story earlier this week about the guy sending a video of his meeting with Mrs Palm.

Odd idea of flirting being the same thing as humiliating the recipient though - and presumably if the flirting has got that far you've got received messages as defence

Paris because my post feels too serious for a friday.

..."stiff penalties"?

Does this mean porn spammers are going to jail, or the sys admin who did not block the porn email or worse still labelled it offensive or redirected it?

Surely there's already adequate legislation to cover the worst excesses that this new legislation is meant to prevent?

This is just another example of lawmakers going for easy targets. Of course it's a good idea to prevent 'sex pests' (TM Daily Mail) making people's lives miserable, but this iffy legislation seems to have been cobbled together so a bunch of politicians can say they've been tough on sex offenders - while not actually making anyone any safer. No-one's going to want to risk their political career by saying 'This is daft', but who's the law going to protect who isn't already covered? One or two idiots will be cautioned for sending ill-advised texts, and maybe some drunk will end up on page 22 of The Sun for sending a text to the wrong person, but that's likely to be it.

Black helicopter because this is all happening since Alec Salmond found out about my photoshops of him and me at it like pistons.... (i stll <3 u, Alec)

So if I send a dirty text from England to my (ex-)friend in Scotland - where would the action - hence offence been committed?

If the sassenachs don't follow the touch jocks in legislating this south of the border does this make us a haven for text sending? Will the scots be putting up border controls to nab us if we stray too far north?

Actually raping someone gets you eight years...

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2008/03/11/pole-gets-eight-year-jail-term-for-rape-86908-20347218/

goatse-ing ppl... or spend a spell at HMs pleasure.

(Protective eye-wear, preferably a blindfold.)

From Pinsent Masons LLP write up:

"The offence will be committed if someone sends an unsolicited text message to someone else which a court finds was designed to give the sender sexual gratification..."

That's me in chokey for "up to 10 years" for exchanging texts with a certain lady-friend, should I cross the border to the land of deep-fried Mars bars. My bestest chum is a relocated Dundonian and still has exes back home who get jiggy via the mobular phonotron, the whole lot of them will be doing porridge. Heaven only knows what will happen if you remoatse* someone via Bluetooth.

Has American conservativism taken over the world or something?

* = remote Goatse

In a few years time it will be illegal to have a sense of humour! we''ll have to ask our friend's permission before telling them a joke just in case you end up in jail for 10 years! Why not ban other things that might cause offence? - reality tv shows, marmite, politicians with nothing better to do than come up with stupid laws, ugly people, dogs in handbags, irritating adverts....

"or by communicating the sounds of actual or simulated sexual activity"

Meg Ryan's fucked then.

Has the sense of responsibility and just dealing with shit that gets thrown at you at life completely dissipated from Scotland since I left five years ago?

Isn't this what laws regarding harrasment are supposed to control? Sexual content or not, harrasment is harrasment, so whats the use of this?

Steven R

Joke icon - because this *must* be what this is?

While this law, as described, could be misused extensively, it would apply to porn banners / adverts served up by non-porn ad-supported websites.

Paris, 'cos her video would apparently get you some serious hard time.

... any erotic literature north of the border then...

Like ice dancing or gymnastics, another jury sport: determining someone's intent :-/

I had honestly thought that they would be more sensible in Scotland, but I fear they too have been bitten by the will-something-please-think-of-the-children bug

/Paris because this is probably the last opportunity to use it before it is deemed too explicit

... because of the following provision:

S.47(7) Any act of incitement by means of a message (however communicated) is to be treated as done in Scotland if the message is sent or received in Scotland.

So you flirty Sassenachs had better behave, as well!

... in fact, more like big chunk of the cliff has just fallen off and landed in the sea.

So can I be banged up for making the wanker signal at a mate on a bus? I'm sure that communication could be intercepted by a fellow passenger.

I hate all this legislation based on the 'perspective of the recipient'. I honestly dont see what the big deal is about offending people. Its like offending people (a legitimate activity) is now the new racism (an illigitimate activity).

Whats this trying to stop exactly? And why cant those activities be stopped with existing legislation?

If its in the workplace then that will already be covered by sex discrimination et al. If its outside the work place, then surely harassment laws are in place. If someone sends another person they dont know a one off sexually explicit text message, im quite sure the harm to the recipient doesnt merit a 10 year jail sentence. I mean good god, im sure convicted paedophiles get less time than that.... and the acts they committ are arguably the worst damaging of all, including murder (at least the suffering of the victim ends at death).

Perhaps this is one for David Davis to add to his list?

I once wrote to my MP and asked when it was a worse crime for a person to beat me up based on that fact I was black, gay, or muslim... but not so bad if it was because I was posh, a Liverpool fan, or a goth. All I got back was nonsensical derision of my legitimate points. When did we allow idiots to start making laws based on political correctness (which by definition ISNT what is right, its what is politically least damaging to say), and not sound legal arguments, principles, and ethics? Im out of here!...

"communicating the sounds of actual or simulated sexual activity"

We have thin walls and neighbours.

So how is prison food?

Paris. Because you know theres not going to be a video set in Scotland!

There goes my SMS based Hooker ring ....Ehhh Escort institution

Oh. My. God.

Enforcement is clearly going to be difficult and the justification for 10 years imprisonment isn't going to be easy to come by I'm sure but I am certain that some politically correct council is going to try this to make an example of some poor soul...

Watch out Scotland!

This law is ripe for abuse.

-Paris, since she offends almost everyone.

..take a picture of an imaginary person?

paris, because she knows more than her fair share about indecent material!

thinking that Scots law was generally a cut above the rest of UK law in terms of sanity and pragmatism.

This looks to be so subjective as to be unworkable, what's offensive to one person may not be to another, and anyone want to bet everything will me more offensive to the justice system than ever it would be to the individuals.

"I put it to you members of the jury, that you would agree with me that this image of Paris naked is offensive in the extreme."

It's funny how often we can be prudish when put like this m'lud.

I was going to post on how stupid this is, but then I got far more pissed off with all the bloody Paris icon messages. Everyone, please, just quit it, it's getting really, really old. I don't want to see Paris Hilton and all the suggestive messages about her. Mr Salmond, I want all these people arrested! lol