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THE IMMIGRANT COUNCIL of Ireland (ICI) has called on the government to ratify an international convention against cybercrime, in an effort to ensure the protection of human rights online and to clamp down on online abuse.
The body has demanded that the government ratify the International Convention on Cybercrime, a convention of the Council of Europe which has been in force since 2004.
Ireland signed the convention in 2002 but has yet to ratify it, ten years on. It is one of ten countries which have signed the convention but not yet ratified it. 38 countries, including three outside of Europe – the US, Japan and Australia – have also ratified it.
The calls come as the Oireachtas communications committee prepares to hold a series of hearings on the role of online communications in abuse and bullying.
Online abuse has been cited as one of the factors behind the recent death of junior minister Shane McEntee, who took his own life, and in the deaths of teenage Donegal sisters Erin and Shannon Gallagher.
ICI chief executive Denise Charlton said a legal framework was necessary to protect online human rights.
“Whilst most users of the internet have no malicious intentions, there is concern that the more sinister side, in the form of trolls may use online fora, boards and websites to spread and incite hate messages,” she said.
“Increasing and unrestricted internet access provides a platform to learn and share but can also be used to harass, bully and intimate.”
Charlton said while the ICI understood the importance of freedom of speech in a democratic society, there was a responsibility to ensure this was not abused.
“Online hate speech needs to be confronted,” she said. ”Many tolerate online hate speech as they may not know how to report it.
She added that it was essential to ensure that the internet was used constructively, and not “be hijacked by those who seek to spread racial hatred, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance”.
In 2007, the then-justice minister Brian Lenihan said the government had intended to bring in legislation which would give legal effect to the convention within Ireland. No such legislation was ever introduced, however.
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This is NOT the way to deal with abuse on the internet. Citing a few isolated cases in order to create a control system for everybody is just insane. Nobody will deny the tragedy of these stories but one should see the bigger picture before applying umbrella legislation. What’s the next step? Who determines where the line is drawn? There will always be people who want to abuse both in the virtual world and in the real world, and no doubt, serious offenders should be dealt with but on an individual basis. Freedom of speech on the internet is something I consider sacred and there are those who would gladly deny the common folk this privilege. Anybody with any cahoonas will use their real name when posting anywhere on the internet and treat it as if they were speaking to another person directly. You will mostly find that “trolls” tend to use a synonym because of their cowardly nature and feel braver due to their anonymity. Deal harshly with offenders who inflict suffering on others but don’t take away everybody’s right to an opinion. Such a system is also open to abuse. The majority haven’t offended therefore don’t need a control in place…..
Spot on Nigel
This is an effort to get their disinformation genii back in their corporate media lockstep orchestrated chorale of neoliberal harmonised unison.
Its gone all leaky….we need a few Chinese walls.
Can’t have democratic reminders that Egalite was once part of the democratic programme; before the Libertarian marketeers took licence to dictate terms and conditions to us plebs.
Close it down. The rabble might rouse from their induced slumber.
First step to the Orwell’s world. Big brother now for sure will see you, hear you, and knows about you everything.
Typical globalist rubbish, strike this down now.
“Those who sacrifice a little bit of freedom for security deserve neither”
I agree with Nigel. The recent use of the word Troll to describe none other than a bully irks me. Initially it was a term coined when a person deliberately derailed a conversation, or baited someone with a comment to start an amusing argument. Sometimes it was/is funny. However, the redefinition is something a hell of a lot more sinister. It’s new definition is bullying, which has been around since long before the internet. The internet is just another vehicle being utilised for delivering this type of hatred. Bullying exists, in schools, in work, in communities. Whether people like to admit it or not, stifling freedom of speech on the internet does not solve root problem. It’s not the methods of communication that are the problem, it is people. The long-term psychological effects should be taught to people, in schools. How bullying has a knock on effect in people’s lives. Suicide/Depression is not talked about widely enough, as there is still some sort of social stigma attached to these. Teaching people what can happened when people are bullied so much that they take their lives may make people think twice about doing this. It is not the tools that are the problems, it is people and the lack of understanding of the impact their actions have on other people. But as usual, people highlight social media and the internet as being the problem.
Spot on, Harry…media means means of mediation.
What gets mediated is not going to change by simply channeling debates into conduits suited to those who gain already from a generalised system of bullying, i.e. the strong; all the way up to those too big and toweringly lofty to fail because they can intimidate our ‘representatives’ with threats of curtailing party funds.
The medium is not always the message. In this case they are shooting the messenger. Because the message needs bottling.
The message is we are most definitely NOT all in it together. Some of us are excluded by a parasitic cartel of dynastic elites masquerading as democrats. Theirs is a vicarious sharing of the pain they callously inflict from their cushioned luxury.
The word “Troll” is now often used by people who don’t want to engage with another and don’t want anyone else to either.
People seem to have forgotten that it’s actually OK for people to hold opinions that oppose their own. In fact it’s desireable or we all end up in Echo Chambers and they do no one any good.
True, D.
But there is still no shortage of derailing trolls.
Politicians are bullies. Just look at the labour party chairman now being bullied because he stood by his values. FG are no different just when one of their party took his own life as a result of his despair from not being strong enough to stand up to his party bully boys. Then they have the cheek to lecture on bullying. Shame on them. RIP Shane Mc Entee – a man with values.
With due respect to the late minister no one knows why he took his own life .
I find it hard to reconcile the idea that a long standing public figure took his life because of so called online bullying . He was a mature man and all he had to do was delete his accounts . There is no comparison between a mature man on his 50′ and some young teenage victims .
You only have to scroll through twitter and abuse is thrown at all public figures yet they do not all take their own lives .
The Ministers death was a tragedy , especially for his family . I hope like all victims of suicide he is at peace now .
I`am an immigrant, and I have no problem at all using internet in Ireland, if even somebody sometimes are not very kind to people like me in comments, I don`t mind if it helps somebody to feel better :)
I am not ready to sacrifice freedom of internet against possibility to not be offended of somebody who just suffer of many failures in his/her live and think al the problem comes from immigrants…
have your say