…Or so we would be led to believe. Any of you in England, may/may not be aware of the new ‘grooming’ law on the internet. (Trying to stop weirdos who would be nice long enough to convince a child they are the same age blah blah blah.)…Is this just me, or is that a highly ridiculous law?! As it amounts to nothing more than being nice to people, I have certain individuals online for two years and more, so how do the police prove whether I have certain intentions for that person after so long or not, without busting into my house (or anybody else’s, for that matter) and violating my HD till they’re convinced I (or anybody else, am normal).[/rant]
Anybody have any thoughts on this? Or internet being the evil evil evil thing that it is in general? [/sarcasm]
;j
i can see the intention behind it - and in that respect i’m all for it. I think that ultimately the Internet is always going to be demonized by the media, but having laws like this in place does (At least theoretically) provide the “Defenders of the Internet” (sounds like a group of superheros) with a bit of ammo to fight back.
Of course enforcing it will be another matter.
At the end of the day, i’m a serious internet user, i use messageboards regularly and occasionally chat and i have nothing to hide, i don’t think this law restricts my freedom and i have no fear that it can realistically be used against me without some kind of deserved reason.
so
bring it on… 
Yes, I see what you’re saying, but it doesn’t seem effective to me, even if they don’t have to chase up every person who could be grooming (they can probably research a file or something) they could be wasting time in which a child could be abducted in real life, or by a real groomer. I don’t think the net is as big a demon as the media makes out, though, as you said. I believe it to be like anything else, only dangerous if you’re stupid with it.
I don’t think they were intending to replace any of the existing child-abduction investigation/prevention methods through this law - if they were then i would agree 100% with you in that it is a waste of valuable police time and resources.
I think though that this is intended more to bolster the authority of the experts the police already have who are carrying out the groomer-hunting role.
There will be some serious band-wagon jumping on from both sides as a result of this law though.
People who see the internet as “satan” (as you pointed out in the OP) will use this as evidence of just how evil the internet really is!!!, whilst at the opposite end of the spectrum those who’s big beef is the government trying to threaten their freedom!!! will claim its evidence of the “big brother” state.
The truth is somewhere inbetween (as always )
I think the most important thing that people forget is exactly what you said right at the end of your last post:
“I believe it to be like anything else, only dangerous if you’re stupid with it.”
You are absolutely right - its about education. Its about teaching kids about how to use the internet responsibly.
Schools need to teach kids that yes - its a great research tool
BUT not everything on it is true and should not automatically be assumed to be so.
More importantly Parents need to stop treating the internet like some kind of electronic childminder :rolleyes: - they need to explain to their kids about some of the dangers (and the benefits) and check up on them from time to time - just like they would if the kid was going out to “hang out” with their friends in the real world.
At the end of the day this law doesn’t tackle any of that - but at least its (vaguely) a step in the right direction.
Ultimately i think that if one potential child-abuser/abductor is stopped and successfully prosecuted through this law who would have otherwise escaped justice…
then i’m all for it.
I’m not sure I understand what this law is about. Is it now illegal in the UK to misrepresent your age/gender on the Internet? The term “grooming” is unfamiliar to me. Please give more detail for those of us on this side of the pond.
Grooming: I think the definition is “Acting out a made up role to someone in the hope of having sexual relations (molesting) the victim (often a child)”
Basically, let’s say you’re 13 and I’m 40. I come online and tell you I’m 13, but rather than saying.
“Hi, a/s/l I’m 13/m/france want to meet this summer”
It is a more steady approach, which could take several months to maybe convince somebody you really are who you say. As I’m sure alot of people thought “Nobody I talk to is lying drastically as I’ve known them for eight months and they haven’t tried to meet”. So I’m assuming, the police look at how individuals talk to other people on the net, and for how long. My main worry/annoyance is: As far as I know, we’re not all down in some huge database yet, so when the police are policing the net, and see me or you being normal with someone, how do they know that me or you are regular people, and not some weirdo hoping to bag us a kiddie?
It isn’t just being used for the net either, they’re using it for rapists, incest and such…but still in real life, how do you draw the line between “Wow isn’t he a nice man, buying that girl an ice cream” and “Yes, he looks like a typical racist”.