New Zealand passes law making it punishable by up to two years in jail for "causing emotional distre - Polidicks

[t]http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/3865x2579+0+0/resize/960x641!/format/jpg/quality/85/http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/midas/57a43ade991134de2671cd0d45078720/200178706/488492331.jpg[/t] [url]http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/01/nz_swings_banhammer_at_trolls/[/url] [quote]New Zealand has become the latest country to think bad online manners are amenable to legislation. The country last night passed a controversial bill, the [I]Harmful Digital Communications Bill[/I], in the hope of stemming “cyber-bullying”. The bill creates a regime under which digital communications causing “serious emotional distress” are subject to an escalating regime that starts as “negotiation, mediation or persuasion” but reaches up to creating the offences of not complying with an order, and “causing harm by posting digital communication”. The most serious offenders would face two years in jail or a maximum fine of NZ$50,000 (US$33,900). After it passed by a 116-to-5 vote in New Zealand's parliament, Gareth Hughes, one of the four Greens MPs to vote against the bill, said it was overly broad and “risks limiting our freedom of expression”. The bill covers posts that are racist, sexist, or show religious intolerance, along with hassling people over disability or sexual orientation. [/quote]

"So what made you do time in here?" "I hurt someone's feelings through the internet"

This news causes me emotional distress

Triggered

What a ridiculous law...

Well looking at the internet's current state this'll be pretty much impossible to enforce...

"kill urself" Then the Kiwi SWAT busts down your door and arrests you for 3 years for cyberterrorism. Yeah, this seems like a fair bill written by people who know things about the internet.

Wow. Kiwis need to harden the fuck up and walk it off.

Send all of our SJWs to New Zealand. The whole country will become a prison colony.

[QUOTE=AtomicWaffle;48130768]Send all of our SJWs to New Zealand. The whole country will become a prison colony.[/QUOTE] Sometimes I joke about NZ being a state of Australia... This is a whole different level But as it states, only very serious cases can return jail time, What do people think would actually get jail time? I reckon that it would definitely be used in addition to other serious charges

While I do think that cyber-bullying is a real problem and isn't something that should be shrugged off with the dumb "lol it's just the internet get over it nerd" attitude a bunch of people have with it (usually by people actually doing it), this is not going to help the problem. I really have no idea how it can be fixed/improved on but this is definitely not the right step to take, having such a broad law is abusable as fuck and will do more harm than good.

[QUOTE=isnipeu;48130841]While I do think that cyber-bullying is a real problem and isn't something that should be shrugged off with the dumb "lol it's just the internet get over it nerd" attitude a bunch of people have with it (usually by people actually doing it), this is not going to help the problem. I really have no idea how it can be fixed/improved on but this is definitely not the right step to take, having such a broad law is abusable as fuck and will do more harm than good.[/QUOTE] If you're being cyber bullied, just block the person. If they keep persisting by making alt. accounts contact an admin to address this problem.

[QUOTE=Last or First;48130655]"kill urself" Then the Kiwi SWAT busts down your door and arrests you for 3 years for cyberterrorism.[/QUOTE] Picturing a squad of kiwis in kevlar and helmets, holding assault rifles, bursting through the door, kicking someone in the teeth and tweeting furiously for the suspect to get hands behind the head.

Hey guys lets delegitimize the very real issue of internet harassment even though there are tons of cases of people committing suicide from a combination of real life and cyber bullying and stalking. It will be funny.

you should really kill yourself New Zealand, faggot, lmao [editline]5th July 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Krem Mannen;48130652]Well looking at the internet's current state this'll be pretty much impossible to enforce...[/QUOTE] there are like, thousands of ways to avoid getting arrested due to this, and the biggest thing is, is that IP addresses are not people.

[QUOTE=Zet;48130701]Wow. Kiwis need to harden the fuck up and walk it off.[/QUOTE] I"m telling the prime minister on you m8 [I]you're gonna get in trouble[/I]

[quote]New Zealand's National Business Review notes complaints that it could criminalise children over the age of 14.[/quote] looks like we're safe

While I do think internet harassment and stalking is a real issue that shouldn't be shrugged off with the "lmao it's just the internet! Stop being such a spineless pussy!" attitude some people have (mostly by people who actively harass and/or stalk others), I don't think the law is the right way to go about it. A law that's this broad/general is ripe for abuse and is quite hard if not impossible to enforce well.

[QUOTE=J!NX;48130990]you should really kill yourself New Zealand, faggot, lmao [editline]5th July 2015[/editline] there are like, thousands of ways to avoid getting arrested due to this, and the biggest thing is, is that IP addresses are not people.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/08/judge-rules-new-york-city-woman-can-serve-divorce-papers-over-facebook/[/url]

[QUOTE=J!NX;48130990]you should really kill yourself New Zealand, faggot, lmao [/QUOTE] Wow I'm taking you to court

Good luck enforcing that

This causes me emotional distress

[QUOTE=Hendo;48131305]Good luck enforcing that[/QUOTE] one or two kids will probably get a huge example made of them and be sent to jail for two years and then we'll never use the law again.

Better stay the fuck away from tumblr guys

One wonders if the person who wrote this bill is in fact an asshole irl, like the senator in California that tried to censor videogame violence when he was supplying guns to actual violent criminals

The article is incredibly misleading by the wording of this: [QUOTE]The most serious offenders [B]would face two years[/B] in jail or a [B]maximum fine [/B]of NZ$50,000 (US$33,900). [/QUOTE] It should be: [QUOTE]The most serious offenders could face a maximum of two years in jail or a maximum fine of NZ$50,000 (US$33,900). [/QUOTE] Which doesn't make this as unreasonable as it suggests. It would be used on cases where you tweet. Coming to kill you, and your family #realtalk #YOLO Not, You mama can't cook like my mama #spagbol4lyf

[QUOTE=nomad1;48130609]"So what made you do time in here?" "I hurt someone's feelings through the internet"[/QUOTE] "i killed a man and microwaved his dog" "oh"

What is their definition of "emotional distress"?

This will probably be used for the likes of threatening to kill someone or causing someone to commit suicide rather than some petty insult someone said on facebook to you, the law wouldn't care at all about that.

From what I understand, this is mostly to allow charging people who are clearly doing something illegal/immoral (lookup the roast busters). Previously it would have been hard to find a law that fits. NZ isn't America, so no one can just sue because someone said "kill urself irl and uninstal dota" with this new law Source: girlf is law student