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MPs dissent against cyberbullying bill

Author
Felix Marwick,
Publish Date
Wed, 1 Jul 2015, 5:12AM
David Seymour (Getty Images)

MPs dissent against cyberbullying bill

Author
Felix Marwick,
Publish Date
Wed, 1 Jul 2015, 5:12AM

UPDATED 8.50AM: Just five MPs have said 'no' to new laws intended to crack down on cyberbullies.

ACT Leader David Seymour, along with four Green MPs were the only ones to vote against the third and final reading of the Government's Harmful Digital Communications Bill.

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The Bill has been criticised by civil libertarians for being poorly drafted and impinging on free speech.

It will set up a civil enforcement regime to handle hateful online abuse, as well as creating a new criminal offence for what are deemed as seriously harmful online behaviours, such as incitement of suicide.

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Seymour voted against the Bill, calling it a case study in bad law and rejecting those who assert it won't be used against those who are sensible and do nothing wrong.

"Anyone who does not see the problem with that construction is incapable of having it explained to them."

Green MP Gareth Hughes said the Bill was overly broad and risks limiting freedom of expression, and "invited the powerful, the vexatious, the litigious to use this to shut down legitimate comment."

Labour backed the Bill but MP Jacinda Ardern said they hope the law will be revisited a year from now "if it is doing any of the harm that we contest may happen."

Justice Minister Amy Adams said in most cases the law will actually provide a quick, simple, non-legal way of getting material taken down from the internet.

"If [young people] are setting out to post things online that are graphic intimate photos of someone else, that are telling people to go and kill themselves or threatening them with serious violence, whether they're sixteen, seventeen, they need to be aware that behaviour isn't appropriate."

However, Thomas Beagle of lobby group Tech Liberty asserts that freedom of expression online is important to our democracy, and describes the bill as unfortunate.

"The idea that we should be able to be online and not be offended or anything like that is just wrong. I think robust political speech will be offensive to some people," Beagle said.

Amy Adams disputes this. She said that when enforcing the law, judges will be very careful around any constraint on people's ability to express themselves on the internet.

"The reality is, free speech has never been absolute. There has always been limits on what can be said, how and when. This is making sure that this is still appropriate in an online world."

New Zealand First MP Tracey Martin agreed, backing the law change. She countered claims it inhibits freedom of speech, saying "freedom comes with responsibilities."

"There are obviously some people out there that don't figure out what those responsibilities are."

 

 

 

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