Law Reform Commission of Ireland Issues Paper on Cyber-Crime and Cyber-Bullying

The Law Reform Commission of Ireland has released a discussion paper ("issues paper") on Cyber-crime affecting personal safety, privacy and reputation including cyber-bullying:

"The criminal law is important in this area, particularly as a deterrent, but civil remedies, including 'take-down' orders, are also significant because victims of cyber-harassment need fast remedies once material has been posted online. The Commission seeks the views of interested parties on the following 5 issues. "

"1. Whether the harassment offence in section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 should be amended to incorporate a specific reference to cyber-harassment, including indirect cyber-harassment (...);
2. Whether there should be an offence that involves a single serious interference, through cyber technology, with another person’s privacy (...) ;
3. Whether current law on hate crime adequately addresses activity that uses cyber technology and social media (...) ;
4. Whether current penalties for offences which can apply to cyber-harassment and related behaviour are adequate (...) ;
5. The adequacy of civil law remedies to protect against cyber-harassment and to safeguard the right to privacy (...)"

There was a related Library Boy post on October 13, 2014 entitled Updated Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of Cyberbullying Bill.