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Mending the net

22 November 2018 / John Tanburn
Issue: 7818 / Categories: Features , Technology , In Court
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​Is it time for a specialist IT court to tackle torts committed online? John Tanburn weighs up the evidence

  • A specialised IT division of the High Court and technically-enabled county courts are needed to address torts committed online.
  • Court structure after Brexit needs to be determined now.

Torts are committed with impunity on the web: driving children to suicide, shredding reputations, threatening death and rape, leaving victims without redress. The law has always provided remedies against such torts, but has so far failed to do so when they are committed online. This will not do. The very credibility of the law is at stake unless its rule extends to the web, where many people live their working and social lives.

In the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (IPA 2016) and the Digital Economy Act 2017, the government has taken enormous powers in the name of tackling ‘extremism’ (which can mean anything the government does not like). With rather less resources, the National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) seeks to tackle online crime. But nothing has yet

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
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