The idea of anti-troll laws has been on the wish list of humanity for a few decades. Trolls are one of the more infuriating online experiences. Everybody has been trolled at least once by some deranged non-existent person. Trolls typically use proxy servers, fake accounts, and similar ways to evade justice.
Australia’s new anti-troll laws have just been introduced to Parliament. Coincidentally, a recent Australian High Court judgement also found news sites liable for defamatory statements made on their social media pages.
This is a very interesting cocktail of legal issues. For example – CNN has actually made its Facebook page inaccessible to Australians as a result of the judgement. Anti-troll laws could have a similar effect. With due respect to CNN, which is after all conducting a basic tale-covering exercise, it’s quite likely that these laws will appear in other jurisdictions soon enough. The news isn’t all bad – This could also be a useful opportunity to de-troll Facebook pages for news media, too.
Managing the legislation
Politically, nobody is in favour of trolls. There is unlikely to be very much resistance to the legislation unless there are privacy considerations. After all, how private can a non-existent person be?
One possible sticking point could be fake accounts. It’s quite common for people to take the names of public figures on social media. It’s also quite possible for people to take the names of other users or random name choices. That could be a very difficult problem, particularly if the legislation includes the risk of prosecution of the wrong person.
Upsides
This is a belated if necessary response to troll problems. Australia, like everywhere else, has its own share of cyber bullying, harassment, and similar atrocities. The pressure on younger social media users is not in dispute. It’s better to have some form of response than no form of response.
Even a basic deterrent would be better than the current situation. Thousands if not millions of people have expressed their frustration regarding trolls. Trolls are toxic, and that is the bottom line.
Hate speech, for example, is considered a “troll event”. Bigotry, personal abuse, and irrational remarks are also well within the bandwidth. Maybe even some of the ultra-patronizing bombastic garbage could be included.
On the whole, this is a good first move. A bit of case law will iron out any difficulties, and there are bound to be at least some. No piece of legislation is perfect when first enacted, and this is a very complex legal environment.
Trolls may be simple, stupid, and easy to bait, but there’s a bit more to it than that. There is no “Save The Trolls” movement with good reason. These people have been a curse since the beginning of the internet, turning an otherwise simple experience into a war zone.
What really amusing is what will happen to all the political trolls? Imagine a lucrative career as a total nutcase, suddenly cut short by a bit of appropriate legislation. What is the world coming to?
