On 7 July 2022, the Law Commission published its final report on intimate image abuse (IIA), with recommendations to create a comprehensive criminal offence that provides effective protection against all manifestations of IIA. The report should be commended for addressing the existing sporadic IIA offences which are not fit for purpose and leave many instances of abuse unpunished. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Month: July 2022 (Page 2 of 3)
The House of Commons vote on the Online Safety Bill has been delayed until the autumn following the resignation of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister. This has prompted a debate between MPs, free speech and child safety campaigners over the vitality of the Bill, and questions regarding the fate of the Bill under a new Tory leader. Continue reading
Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world. It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments in the field. Continue reading
As we have seen, Raab claims that the Bill of Rights “helped mould a separation of powers between government, Parliament and the courts – a system of checks and balances to prevent any one branch of the state from dominating the others or abusing its power”. But as far back as 1976 the Conservative sometime Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, was warning that the parliamentary system could be exploited in such a manner that it could act as an ‘elective dictatorship’. Continue reading
Raab’s view of the Bill of Rights 1689 is, if anything, even more rose-tinted than his misty-eyed evocation of Magna Carta. According to him, the Bill “built on earlier rights. Fair trial safeguards were added, strengthening the independence of the jury selection from bias, and requiring the prior conviction of a criminal offence before the imposition of fines or the forfeiture of property”. He also points out that it added to Article 20 of Magna Carta “a ban on the infliction of ‘cruel and unusual punishments’”, which he sees as “an early precursor to the modern ban on torture”. Continue reading
Raab expanded considerably on the sentiments expressed above in the first chapter of his book The Assault on Liberty: What Went Wrong with Rights (2009). When this was published, Raab took the opportunity openly to state that “I don’t support the Human Rights Act and I don’t believe in economic and social rights”, and many of the Act’s defenders regard the Bill of Rights Bill that he has recently introduced as the culmination of a twelve-year campaign to rip up our current human rights protections. Continue reading
According to Peter Hitchens in the Mail, 22 June 2022: “There’s no such thing as human rights … They are an invention, made out of pure wind. If you are seriously interested in staying free, you should not rely on these flatulent, vague phrases to help you. They are in fact a weapon in the hands of those who wish to remove your liberty and transform society”. Continue reading
The judgment in Lee v Brown [2022] EWHC 1699 (QB) was handed down on 1 July 2022. I wrote about the case after I attended one day of a hearing on 20 June. This update isn’t going to go into detail on defamation law but will, I hope, explain further why I think the scaremongering after Depp v Heard (US trial) was exaggerated. Fear of being threatened with libel should never stop anyone reporting abuse. Continue reading
The Law Commission has published its final report (pdf) on reforming the criminal law as it relates to intimate image abuse. The taking and sharing of sexual images without consent violates the sexual autonomy and bodily privacy and can cause serious harm to victim-survivors. Existing intimate image abuse offences are not fit for purpose, and the lack of a comprehensive legal regime means many instances of abuse fall between a gap in the law. For example, upskirting is a criminal offence but downblousing is not; nor is sharing an intimate image that has been altered (aka “deepfakes”). Continue reading
Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world. It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments in the field. Continue reading
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