Thursday 28 July 2011

Is it illegal to name and shame online?

Short answer? There isn't one. But blogs, Facebook posts, must respect the court system.
They must be careful. It is not illegal to post them, but to convict them on-line, without due process, is wrong, just as the rioters have taken out their angst on business owners, cars, and those trying to keep peace.

Also, the courts deem that naming young offenders, who may not know better, is illegal once the offender has been charged. It is not illegal to post the photos, but it is illegal to call them criminals until justice has been served.

'When young people (between 12 and 17) are charged with a crime, Parliament has insisted that no one publish any information that could identify them, their young victims or witnesses, on the basis that reputations shouldn't be tarred forever by public knowledge of their involvement in criminal activity in their formative years.'


Is it illegal to name and shame rioters online?


From my perspective [Daniel Henry, senior legal counsel at CBC], few citizen publishers know the rules involving media and the law, or that they are subject to them. What's more, it seems that the rationale behind these rules can be easily lost in a post-riot rush to justice.



Police under fire as fresh statistics show charges dropped in 59% of G20 cases


This goes both ways, on either side of the barriers.


What saddens me are the news report of illegal detention, physical violence that tarnishes the name of all police. If the Powers That Be do not take action to remove these officers from duty, it besmirches the good name of all police. It ensures that the public will continue to be afraid with illegal detention, search and seizure, especially those officers with two strikes against them.



The Ottawa Police told The Citizen that Jacobs is on regular duty.
Mother’s Day 2009 was going well for Mark Krupa until the police officer in the black Pontiac pulled up next to him at the red light.
Ottawa Police Const. Kevin Jacobs, Jacobs has been in the public eye recently for another incident. According to a recent court ruling, he broke the rules on police searches by entering a Kanata-area home without a search warrant.

Kenneth Grey asks, What exactly happened?

- Why was Krupa charged with failing to stop for police and stunt driving, then had those charges dropped, and finally was just given a speeding ticket?
- Why was Ottawa Police Const. Kevin Jacobs probed by the Ottawa Police internal affairs unit but cleared while the province's civilian police commission decided that Jacobs be charged for unlawful and excessive use of authority in the handling of Krupa under the Police Services Act?;


This young man, Krupa, was taken to hospital with injuries that appear to be the result of a beating: lacerations, contusions, a black eye, abrasions, at the hands of a police officer who was cleared?

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