"Why Australia’s technologically illiterate politicians and emotionally fragile sportsmen, with their calls for tough new laws to police social media, need to have a good lie down."
Section 474.17 of the Commonwealth criminal code creates an offence, punishable by imprisonment for three years, of using a carriage service, and yes the internet counts, in such a way that a reasonable person would consider it “menacing, harassing or offensive”.
Of course, to actually catch a few trolls and imprison them, resources would need to be applied, money spent, and staff hours committed. The question of what is actually menacing, harassing or offensive, and what is merely the sort of rougher than usual rhetoric one finds online is a flame war for another day, or a question for the jury.
"By MARK PEARSON
The arrest and court appearance of a man accused of the rape and murder of Melbourne ABC staffer Jill Meagher has sparked a spate of commentary on social media – much of it potentially prejudicial to the suspect’s upcoming trial. Here is an excerpt from my new book - Blogging and Tweeting Without Getting Sued: A global guide to the law for anyone writing online (Allen & Unwin, 2012) – explaining the basic principles of sub judice contempt for lay users of social media. See also Julie Posetti’s innovative and useful Storify on this."
Julie Posetti's Storify for Jill Meagher's case
Laurel was named in 2012 by Forbes magazine in the Top 50 Social Media Influencers globally , and Marketing Magazine named her "Head of Industry, Social Media" for Australia. Author of Social Media Revenue, Laurel has consulted globally including with Singapore Government and Middle East Broadcasting, and in Australia, with Westpac, Sony, local, State and Federal Government. Laurel is the CEO of The Community Crew managing massive gaming and online communities including Facebook and forums for reality TV shows such as Junior Masterchef. Since 2005, Laurel has been lecturing on online community management at the University of Sydney, AFTRS, UWS etc and she has been managing virtual communities since 1989. Laurel’s blog laurelpapworth.com has been named by AdAge in the Power150 media blogs worldwide and she is in the top 10 bloggers for Australia as well as100 Most Powerful Women on Twitter.
Welcome to the Peeragogy Handbook! This book presents a range of techniques that self-motivated learners can use to connect with each other and develop stronger communities and collaborations. via Pocket
I believe that interaction and community are essential elements of successful learning. I believe that we must be active learners. via Pocket
"he host of CBC Radio's Spark explores the very real impact of the virtual information we generate about ourselves -- on our own lives, our communities, and our government.
We generate enormous amounts of online data about our habits: where we go, what we do, and how we feel. Some of that is stuff we choose to report; some of it is the offhand data trails we leave behind. The Virtual Self looks at the debates and challenges around virtual data-sharing -- from Facebook status updates to Google Navigator -- and its potential for building more responsive communities and governments. Nora argues that if we wrestle now with issues like privacy and data control, we can harness the power of that data.
The host of CBC Radio's Spark, Nora Young has fascinating information at her disposal, unique insights into the intersection of the virtual and real worlds, and a wonderful voice for making all of these clear to a general audience. Accessible and entertaining, The Virtual Self takes that personal, psychological reality of everything from email to status updates and teases out the increasingly bigger impacts on the real world around us of the virtual information we all generate.
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