answer text |
<p>Our view is that behaviour which is illegal or unacceptable offline should be treated
the same online. The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading
legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online, through establishing
a statutory duty of care that will be enforced by an independent regulator. Companies
will be held to account for tackling a comprehensive set of online harms, both those
which are illegal and also behaviours that may not be illegal but are nonetheless
highly damaging to individuals and society.</p><p> </p><p>We are also ensuring that
the criminal law is fit for purpose to deal with online harms. The Department for
Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport and the Ministry of Justice have now engaged the
Law Commission on a second phase of their review of abusive and offensive online communications.
The Law Commission will review existing communications offences and make recommendations
about options for reform. This will include considering whether co-ordinated harassment
by groups of people online could be more effectively dealt with by the criminal law.
The Law Commission will also look at criminal law around non-consensual taking and
sharing of intimate images, considering existing offences and identifying whether
there are any gaps in the protection already offered to victims. The Law Commission
will make recommendations to ensure that criminal law provides consistent and effective
protection against such behaviour.</p>
|
|