Reporting UK Internet Hate Crime and Abuse

From Stand Up to Hate:

There is a common belief amongst UK internet users that anything can be posted or said on-line if the website is hosted abroad.

For instance it is believed that racism, homophobia, threats of violence, incitement to religious hatred etc cannot be acted on by the British Law enforcement agencies or the UK justice system if it is posted on You Tube, Facebook, Twitter etc, because they are American owned companies and therefore come under their “Free Speech Laws”.

Recently a number of convictions in the UK have proven this to be a common myth and a lie.

Material (videos, documents, music etc) posted on any site anywhere in the world by a person in the UK still falls under the “Obscene Publications Act 1959 and 1964” and therefore the person posting it is liable to arrest and prosecution.

http://www.iwf.org.uk/hotline/the-laws/criminally-obscene-adult-content/obscene-publications-act-1959-and-1964

Comments or posts deemed to be of a racist, homophobic, slanderous, religious hatred or violent nature are also breaches of UK law no matter where the site is hosted and are a breach of the UK’s “Communications Act 2003”.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/section/127

Both laws have been used to arrest and convict people posting on foreign hosted and foreign owned website.
This post outlines the laws and gives people the relevant information on how to gather evidence of a breach of these laws, how and where to report them.

Gathering Evidence and Making a Report

The more information you can supply the stronger the case the police and the Crown Prosecution Service will have to prosecute the person. If you follow the steps below they should have all the information they will need.

1) Record all relevant information about the item. This information should include; what website it is posted on, who posted it, the date of upload (if shown) and any comments.

2) Write down how the item makes you feel. This is a handy piece of information to give the police, they will ask.

3) If possible copy the source item. This may mean copying the image, video or music as it may be removed before the police see it and they will want a copy. If it's abusive comments please follow the instructions in point 4.

To copy an image right click on it then select "save image as".

To copy a video or music item, please Google the website name followed by "download". Select a website that will do the download rather than software and follow the instructions.

We do not advocate copyright theft and items should only be copied to aid the police in catching the culprit.

We will suggest some sites at the bottom of this article to help.

4) Take screenshots of the item. Still images in all cases will be of help. Please visit this site that gives full instructions on how to take a screen capture.


http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/general/ht/winscreenshot.htm
5) When you have done all this contact your local police department via the link below. You can do it via email or telephone. Give them the full details about the item and the evidence you have gathered.

http://www.met.police.uk/links/index.htm#uk

That's it

The UK law enforcement agencies have the ability and legal right to find where that person is located, so don’t worry about the logistics of how it’s done.


Don’t listen to lies; the incitement to religious hatred is a crime!

The incitement to religious hatred or religious intolerance falls under UK anti-Racism legislation. And thusly is also a breach of the United Kingdoms laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_and_Religious_Hatred_Act_2006


Please check out a few news items that demonstrate how these laws have been used to arrest, prosecute and convict online hate promoters and abusers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1319080/Unemployed-man-faces-jail-leaving-obscene-messages-internet-tribute-sites.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/12/racist_content/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bradford-west-yorkshire-11761181

http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/press_releases/101_09/

http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/c-13425/two-teens-arrested-over-facebook-hate/

From recent Norwich Pride Rally