Re: One man's meat is another man's poison
A flame war is not harassment. Criticism is not harassment. This isn't a law against harsh words; it's a law against actions.
Forum arguments are not bullying: The forum posts are the record of the conversation, and the person being "abused" has the right of reply right there by posting a rebuttal. It's still free debate, even if it degenerates into abusive debate; also, reading the transcript, it will become clear who's being abusive, and who isn't, should the matter need to be taken further. Also, the ability to edit posts allows those people who type before thinking a chance to retract and apologise for their ill-judged remarks, and most forums are moderated to some extent.
This law isn't about someone making one or two nasty posts on a forum, it's about pre-meditiated, concerted actions to damage another person's career or reputation. "Cyber-Bullying" isn't someone getting annoyed because some other nerd thinks BSD is a better licence; it's someone nursing a grudge to the point where they're prepared to impersonate their opponent online, execute anonymous smear campaigns, spread malicious rumours and fabricate "evidence" for these. That, I hope you agree, is wrong, and should be a crime.
The reason for this consultation is this: while the current law makes running a smear campaign a crime, it does not explicitly mention the case where the instrument of that campaign is the Web.
The change in law is to make sure that if someone is accused of defaming or bullying online and there's sufficient evidence to bring a charge, that the wording of the law itself will not allow the offender to walk free on a technicality. ("But, Your Honour, when this law was drafted, publishing meant meant printing, and my client did nothing more than enter some text on a web server. My client had no idea that this information would be read by anyone")
There's no surveillance involved. If a complaint is made, the police will try to find evidence that will identify the suspect, just as in any other crime, but there's no suggestion at all of recording everything just in case.
People crying wolf? Well, this is a criminal offence we're speaking about, so offences must be reported in the first instance to the police. I don't know who'd go their local Garda station with a printout of a LKML thread where they've been called a clueless amoeba, but I'm pretty sure that if they did, the matter wouldn't go much further than the station desk.