Prosecutor to launch consultation on social media guidelines

September 20th, 2012

The Director of Public Prosecutions has announced a consultation to establish clear guidelines on prosecutions involving social media . In a statement on The Crown Prosecution Service website announcing that footballer Daniel Thomas — investigated for allegedly homophobic tweets about Olympic divers Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield — will not be prosecuted, Keir Starmer QC said:

“To ensure that CPS decision-making in these difficult cases is clear and consistent, I intend to issue guidelines on social media cases for prosecutors. These will assist them in deciding whether criminal charges should be brought in the cases that arise for their consideration. In the first instance, the CPS will draft interim guidelines. There will then be a wide public consultation before final guidelines are published. As part of that process, I intend to hold a series of roundtable meetings with campaigners, media lawyers, academics, social media experts and law enforcement bodies to ensure that the guidelines are as fully informed as possible.”

Starmer and the CPS faced severe criticism for the handling of Paul Chambers’s “Twitter joke trial“. Chambers, who was found guilty of sending a “menacing communication” after he joked about blowing up Robin Hood Airport in Doncaster, had his conviction overturned in July of this year. It emerged today that a man has been arrested under the Communications Act 2003 for allegedly setting up a Facebook page praising Dale Cregan, the Manchester man accused of killing two police officers.

Uganda: Newspaper told to stop targeting homosexuals

November 2nd, 2010

A Ugandan judge has instructed the Rolling Stone newspaper to stop publishing the names and photographs of people it claims are gay. Last month the tabloid published names, photos, and addresses of 100 supposed homosexuals, alongside a banner that read, “Hang them.” The injunction came following a request by the gay rights group Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). The group says some gay people were attacked after Rolling Stone published the information. Editor Giles Muhame was unrepentant, saying, “We will publish more pictures but in a diplomatic way, so that we can dodge the law” and “ I haven’t seen the court injunction but the war against gays will and must continue. We have to protect our children from this dirty homosexual affront”.

UK: School bans play fearing community tensions

March 31st, 2010

A production of a new play about the British National Party and homophobia has been pulled from the stage in Dudley. Philip Ridley’s Moonfleece was due to be performed at the Mill Theatre – based in Daunton Community School – on Thursday, two days before a protest by the English Defense League was scheduled in the town. The play was pulled by the school on the basis that “some of the issues raised within the play were [not] suitable for a school or community setting”. The production already toured some of the country’s most racially-sensitive areas without protest. In 2004, Birmingham Repertory Theatre was forced to close a play which depicted rape and murder in a Sikh temple, after it prompted riots from the city’s Sikh community.