header-logo header-logo

Internet sends mixed messages

23 March 2007 / Richard Scorer
Issue: 7265 / Categories: Opinion , Media , Regulatory , Child law
printer mail-detail

Are websites responsible for users’ behaviour? Richard Scorer asks where we should draw the line online

“Perverts keep out: the government gets tough on internet paedophiles who groom vulnerable youngsters online.” This was a headline in The York Press, 7 February 2007, following the announcement by Home Secretary John Reid of “tough new measures” to force internet paedophiles to register their online nicknames and e-mail addresses with the authorities. Reid also ordered a feasibility study of an online alarm system that would notify police every time a convicted paedophile uses registered details to log on to an internet chatroom.

Reid’s crackdown was intended to mark European Internet Safety Day. Unfortunately, the Home Secretary’s timing was inauspicious. Just as Reid announced his plans, the prison overcrowding crisis erupted into a political row when a judge refused to send an internet paedophile to jail because of the shortage of prison places. Derek Williams’s six-month sentence for downloading child pornography was changed to a suspended sentence, apparently following the Home Office’s instruction that only ‘serious

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
back-to-top-scroll