Electronic defamation

Electronic Defamation 2nd Gymnasium of Xanthi Greece

The big evolution of computer science and the fact that the Web has

been made an important basic tool both for work and entertainment,

converts the digital information in a new basic good which must be

protected by law.

The problemIt’s a fact that technological

reality requires immediate legal solutions to the problems that arise especially in the field of

criminal law under which comes electronic defamation and cyber

crime by extension.

The proportional enforcement of law is not permitted. This means, that any other

provision of law can’t be enforced proportionally running the risk of leaving a

crime unpunished.

The difficulty in finding the “doer”, who because of the technological applications has

the ability to “hide” relatively easily, makes the law difficult to be enforced to specific

individuals.

The two major issues that arise are the following

Cybercrime

There is no specific definition on cybercrime. In essence however,

it is crime which is directly related to the abuse of the possibilities

There is no specific definition of cybercrime. In essence, however,it is crime which is directly related

to the abuse of the possibilitiesof computers.

The main categories of cybercrime under the Criminal Code are the following:

Computer fraud

Defamation

Illegal copy or use of computer programs

Defamation, done through the Internet is when someone spreads rumors for someone

else or reveals an event that can harm his honor or

reputation

A typical example is the spreading of offensive

comments about someone else's personality , through the technological potential of views exchange offered by e.g. a blog

or a forum.

The defamation is characterized as slanderous if the offensive event which is being spread is

falsehood and when the responsible for the hearsay

knew it is falsehood.

ΤΗΕ DANGERS

The enumeration of the crimes above have prung from technological rise, though undoubtedly positive, it is pregnant with many dangers.

Firstly, these dangers are coming from the bad use of technology and they are flourishing (as we said before), because of the anonymity that prevails over the internet.

Electronic dangers

Personal data protection Access to inappropriate

Code theft On-line frauds cyber crime

False profiles Personality offense and frauds Digital harassment

So anyone can come to the conclusion that the solution to the complex issue of e-crime-part of which is e-defamation is not simple. It requires

Legislative provision of specific forms of crime.

The international cooperation of law enforcement authorities in prosecution level, evidence collection and investigation of offenses.

Finally, the vigilance and of the user himself. The user must follow some basic rules of protection and not take actions that are not recommended because of the risk involved.

Safeline, the Greek open call line accepting complaints about illegal

content on the Internet, has recently handled 1807 complaints made in a few months period. 565 of these are

about social networking sites and specifically Facebook.

The Facebook dominates complaints about Internet.

Complaints about Internet;

27% the spam and phishing; 27%

Complaints about Internet; 15% personal

data abuse; 15%

Complaints about Internet; 14%

the violation in communi-cations ; 14%

the accusations for insults and

slanderous defamation

through the In-ternet13%

financial frauds13%

Complaints about Internet; 18% other; 18%

Thank you for your attention