Submitted on Sunday 22nd April 2018
Rejected on Friday 27th April 2018
Current status: Rejected
Rejection code: no-action (see below for details)
Revise Section 127 of the Communications Act.
The current wording is open to abuse. This has lead to several wasteful court cases which are clearly not in the public interest.
Section 127 in it's current form is an affront to our nation's values.
Anything can be offensive. We must be prepared to offend in the pursuit of truth.
Current case law provides that the offence is committed when the message is sent, regardless of whether it was ever received and indeed regardless of whether, if received, it was actually found to be grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character. The sole arbiter of whether the message or other material is of an grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character is the Court, applying an "ordinary person" test. And if this test is met, then the Court may regard that mere intention to send a message of that character to be the mens rea.
We have recently witnessed the unnecessary prosecution of Mark Meechan.
https://ind.pn/2I1RZox
Another recent case, Chelsea Russell was convicted for sharinging song lyrics.
https://bbc.in/2qLisR3
You can't sign this petition because it was rejected. But you can still comment on it here at Repetition.me!
The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:
We're not sure exactly what you'd like the Government or Parliament to do. We understand that you'd like section 127 of the Communications Act to be changed, but we're not sure exactly what changes you'd like to see.
You could start a new petition explaining clearly what you would like the Government or Parliament to do.
18.119.132.223 Thu, 25 Apr 2024 11:35:42 +0100
