Say goodbye to the days of entertaining vigilante justice — the Protection from Harassment Act 2014 is now in full force. Harassment is now considered and offence no matter if it's committed in real life or online.
Passed in Parliament in March last year, the Act enables a range of civil remedies and criminal sanctions for a higher degree of protection from harassment, The New Paper reports. Among the offences laid out in the Bill include causing alarm or distress, fear or provocation of violence, threatening, abusing or insulting a public servant or public service worker and stalking.
Victims can seek for a Protection Order, which can put a stop to the spreading of harassing communication by others who republish the communication, i.e, putting a stop to cases such as last year's Jover Chew vs The Internet saga. Any breaches of Protection Orders will amount to criminal offences.
Other than Protection Orders, victims can also sue for monetary damages over harassment, even if offenders are harassing from overseas.
If convicted, offenders can be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to a year. Repeat offenders get double those sentences.
Photo: Wen Tong Neo via Flickr
Say goodbye to the days of entertaining vigilante justice — the Protection from Harassment Act 2014 is now in full force. Harassment is now considered and offence no matter if it's committed in real life or online.
Passed in Parliament in March last year, the Act enables a range of civil remedies and criminal sanctions for a higher degree of protection from harassment, The New Paper reports. Among the offences laid out in the Bill include causing alarm or distress, fear or provocation of violence, threatening, abusing or insulting a public servant or public service worker and stalking.
Victims can seek for a Protection Order, which can put a stop to the spreading of harassing communication by others who republish the communication, i.e, putting a stop to cases such as last year's Jover Chew vs The Internet saga. Any breaches of Protection Orders will amount to criminal offences.
Other than Protection Orders, victims can also sue for monetary damages over harassment, even if offenders are harassing from overseas.
If convicted, offenders can be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to a year. Repeat offenders get double those sentences.
Photo: Wen Tong Neo via Flickr