Friday, June 8, 2012

Landmark Case: Abusers behind Fake Facebook Profiles will be caught!!!

There is no question that  incidences of bullying via facebook has become common phenomena. People have been known to create fake profiles with the intention to anonymously stalk and harass their victims behind a username. A problem arises when the victim has no way of stopping the the individuals because these stalkers and or harassers are not real people.  Many times the stalking can escalate to  threats of harm or severe damage to the victims reputation. 
Facebook is known for having a strict policy on privacy.  Their solution is block the facebook user.  Well that may prevent the victim to see the abuse, but that does not stop the abuser from continuing to post their harassing and or threatening comments. 

Well a landmark case in Britain has possibly changed the Facebook privacy policy. The Guardian revealed that Nicola Brookes, a victim of cyberbullying has won a court case mandating that Facebook release the IP addresses to help identify the people who sent her the abusive messages. These bullies had set up fake profiles on the site in order to post comments. The lashing from these  anonymous users had to to with Brookes posted support for a contestant on the Xfactor.
Facebook as ordered the bullies to reveal their name, email and IP addresses, showing both who they are and where they are posting from.

Facebook said in a statement:"There is no place for harassment on Facebook, but unfortunately a small minority of malicious individuals exist online, just as they do offline. We respect our legal obligations and work with law enforcement to ensure that such people are brought to justice."

I think Facebook lives in a dreamworld, to make the statement that there is only a small minority of malicious individuals that exist on line, is ludicrous.


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