A recent Victorian case highlights the potential to use the criminal law to manage reputations on the internet.
A senior Melbourne academic has claimed that she felt threatened by a former colleague because he posted comments and images about her on his personal Facebook page and on a another Facebook page which had been established to campaign against departmental funding cuts.
The senior academic alleged that her cyber-stalker painted works of art that indicated an “obsession with murder”.
In a strange twist the end result of the court process was that the ”victim” has agreed not to visit the Facebook page of the ”offender” for the next 20 years and the “offender” undertook to refrain from referring to the “victim” with malice and agreed to remove three offending posts from his personal Facebook page.
The case highlights the continuing struggle between our outmoded laws and the rise of electronic social networking.
Link: Sydney Morning Herald 17 April 2011 Art School Altercation Puts New Spin on Cyberstalking