Internet trolls warned: Expect arrest if you abuse people online...but only in the UK

Well cheerio and all that rot! The British are apparently trying to crack down on internet harassment. Now, I'm not British, nor can I say what the lsaws are there. I personally hope this extends to those so-called "paedo-hunters."

http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/26/internet-trolls-warned-expect-arrest-if-you-abuse-people-online-4324660/

Internet trolls warned: Expect arrest if you abuse people online
Wednesday 26 Feb 2014 8:10 pm

Internet trolls were today warned there was no hiding place from justice.

They were told to expect arrest if they threatened or abused people on social media sites.

Culture secretary Maria Miller said there was a ‘straightforward principle’ that rules which applied offline would also be applied online.

‘The internet isn’t a ‘‘Second Life’’,’ she said, ‘It isn’t something where different rules apply, where different behaviour is acceptable – it isn’t the wild west.’

Addressing the Oxford Media Convention, she said: ‘Whether it is images of child abuse or terrorist material we will use the full force of the law, national and international, to take down that content and pursue the perpetrators.

‘If you vilely insulted, or threatened to attack someone in person on the street, you do so expecting to be arrested and charged. The same already applies on social media.’

Referring to the recent jailing of a man and a woman who subjected feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez to online abuse, Ms Miller said ‘being online does not mean the law doesn’t apply to you’. She added: ‘Last year, 2,000 people were prosecuted for sending electronic communications that were grossly offensive or menacing.’

Ms Miller told the audience ‘the veil of anonymity the internet provides may be valuable but does not give licence to insult, cheat or exploit.’

Taking aim at illegal downloads, she added: ‘If you wanted to see a film or listen to a CD, you wouldn’t sneak into a shop and steal it off the shelf, so why do the online equivalent and download it illegally?

‘It’s about good citizenship… as well as what’s legal and what’s not.’