Think you can make a fake Facebook account to troll and bully? Think again! You can be traced, and arrested!
This week, in the ‘Creeps of the Week’ section, Facecrooks reports the case of a dispute over, of all things, X-Factor! According to the Facecrooks article, One female Facebook user posted strongly worded comments about a particular contestant. Rather than post, to disagree, a serving member of the U.K. police force set up several fake accounts to abuse and degrade her. What started out as bullying turned into a legal matter when the police officer crossed the line by publishing personal information.
Contrary to what a lot of Facebook users think can be done to identify fake accounts, the police officer WAS traced, and arrested!
Eventually, the officer published Brookes’ home address on one of the fake accounts, and she decided it was finally time to take legal action. She won a High Court Judgment in June that required the names and email and IP addresses of the fake profiles to be revealed. This order led to the arrest of the police officer responsible.
You can read, and comment on, the full Facecrooks article here.
EDIT: You can also read U.K. newspaper accounts of the case here and here.
Reassuringly, it has also been reported that new government bill has been proposed in the U.K. that could tackle online bullying and trolling by making it quicker and easier to obtain the identities and IP addresses of Internet defamers. If this bill does get passed, it will be a great relief to U.K. Facebook users who feel there is no way to approach Facebook directly to deal with bullying because it is based in the U.S. where different laws apply.
Have you been the victim of bullying or trolling by someone using fake accounts? Has it got to the stage where you are contemplated closing your account? did you actually close it and open a new one to get away from the bully? Or do you think people should stand up to bullies and not hide? Please leave your thoughts in the comment box below. We love to share your views with other YoVillians.
