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Insulting Behaviour and Defamation

Threat Type: Insulting Behaviour and Defamation Threat To: Public Confidence
Potential Impact: Medium Likelihood: High

Summary

There are many cases of email being used to harass, and web sites set up to insult people.

Mechanism

Email harassment is not new. It can include insulting messages sent to the target, and anonymous defamatory postings on email lists and newsgroups. A savvy attacker can forge email 'from' the target to expose them to ridicule. It is also possible to sign up the target's email address to mailing lists used for the distribution of material they will find offensive.

There have been many cases of this, but it is often obvious who the perpetrator is. Forging email is easy but doing it undetectably is much harder. Often perpetrators have been caught and punished. ['High' award for cyber-slur,The New Zealand Herald, 1 September 2001.]

In other cases, people have created websites to lampoon and insult their victims. This has occurred among school children in New Zealand, and has been dealt with by schools.

Comment

Although this is a problem, it is dealt with currently via harassment legislation. Other technologies such as SMS are also a channel for this.

Example Mitigations

Keep pressure on to behave well online

Education at school level

Internet Safety


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