A 14-year-old boy has been added to a national police database after sending a naked picture of himself to classmate via Snapchat. The uncontrollable rise in sexting amongst children must be tackled, but is punishment the right solution? Although the unnamed boy was not arrested or charged, the incident – which the police became aware … Continue reading
Isabella Sorley, 23, and John Nimmo, 25, have both been handed a prison sentence after sending tweets to journalist and equality campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez in July last year. They pleaded guilty to sending by means of a public electronic communications network messages which were menacing in character, contrary to Section 127(1) (A) of the Communications … Continue reading
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Kier Starmer, has now published its final guidelines stating how offensive a comment must be to justify police and prosecution time. There are already concerns that the guidance will not go far enough to prevent the growing phenomenon of online ‘trolls’. Starmer has said that prosecutors must respect and recognise freedom … Continue reading
The Guardian has reported that the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, has issued instructions that probation officers face the risk of disciplinary action if they publicly criticise him or his plans on Twitter or other social media. The ban follows the announcement of Grayling’s controversial plans to outsource 70% of the probation officers’ work with offenders. The gag … Continue reading
Frequently, employees who are accused of inappropriate behaviour on social media sites will blame someone else. “I didn’t write that” may sometimes seem like a convenient passing of the buck, but online identity theft – however temporary – is very real and can have serious consequences. You may not be familiar with such vulgar words … Continue reading
The Metro has reported that three civil servants have been dismissed from the Home Office following allegations they breached social media guidelines. Information obtained through a Freedom of Information request has revealed that the dismissals followed postings on Facebook, MySpace and Bebo that brought the government department into disrepute, in breach of an internal social media … Continue reading
The ‘social media police’ are out in force in the civil service The Guardian recently reported that 116 civil servants in the Department for Work and Pensions have been disciplined since 2009 for their use of social media at work, of which 11 have been dismissed. The DWP has stated that access to social media … Continue reading
Kevin Poulter 