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HARMFUL DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS: the Adequacy of the Current Sanctions and Remedies

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HARMFUL DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS: the Adequacy of the Current Sanctions and Remedies Wellington, New Zealand |August 2012 Ministerial Briefing Paper HARMFUL DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS: The adequacy of the current sanctions and remedies The Law Commission is an independent, publicly funded, central advisory body established by statute to undertake the systematic review, reform and development of the law of New Zealand. Its purpose is to help achieve law that is just, principled, and accessible, and that reflects the heritage and aspirations of the peoples of New Zealand. The Commissioners are: Honourable Sir Grant Hammond KNZM – President Dr Geoff McLay SJD; Mich Honourable Dr Wayne Mapp Ph D; Cantab The General Manager of the Law Commission is Brigid Corcoran The office of the Law Commission is at Level 19, HP Tower, 171 Featherston Street, Wellington Postal address: PO Box 2590, Wellington 6140, New Zealand Document Exchange Number: sp 23534 Telephone: (04) 473-3453, Facsimile: (04) 471-0959 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.lawcom.govt.nz 1 FOREWORD In New Zealand, as in many other countries, there is growing and strong concern about the use of new communication technologies to cause harm. Young people are particularly vulnerable, but the problem is by no means confined to them: there are examples of the most disturbing and damaging communications between adults as well. There is a widespread desire that something be done. Because of these concerns, the Minister Responsible for the Law Commission, the Honourable Judith Collins, has asked the Law Commission to expedite the part of its project on the New Media which deals with this topic. The Commission has considered the many submissions it received on its issues paper “The New Media meets ‘New Media’: Rights, Responsibilities and Regulation in the Digital Age.” It has also undertaken further research, commissioned an online survey and consulted with a number of key agencies and persons. We record our particular thanks to the Police, the Chief Coroner, the Human Rights Commission, NetSafe, Trade Me, Judge David Harvey, Dr John Fenaughty and Steven Price for so generously making available their time, experience and expertise. We also wish to acknowledge our debt to Steven Price’s writings on the subject. Something needs to be done. We present our findings and recommendations in this paper. They form an integrated package which we believe is a proportionate response to a growing problem. In order to meet the shortened time frames it was agreed with the Minister that we would produce a briefing paper containing our recommendations rather than a formal report. However, in every other respect the contents of this paper reflect the normal processes employed by the Commission in arriving at its final position. This paper will be attached to our final report on the New Media, as an appendix, in due course. This project was led by John Burrows. The legal and policy advisers were Cate Honoré Brett, Rachel Hayward and Joanna Hayward. Hon Sir Grant Hammond KNZM President of the Law Commission 2 Harmful Digital Communications: the adequacy of the current sanctions and remedies CONTENTS Foreword .......................................................................................................................... 2 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................ 5 How this report came about ............................................................................................. 5 Our approach & terminology ........................................................................................... 7 Summary of contents ..................................................................................................... 10 Summary of recommendations ...................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 1: WHAT THIS IS ABOUT ........................................................................................... 21 The scope of this inquiry ............................................................................................... 21 Our preliminary proposals ............................................................................................. 22 The contents of this report ............................................................................................. 23 The principles underpinning our recommendations ...................................................... 26 CHAPTER 2: UNDERSTANDING HARMFUL DIGITAL COMMUNICATION ...................... 29 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 29 The prevalence of digital communication harms ........................................................... 31 What is different about digital communication? ........................................................... 37 How does Cyber-Bullying differ? ................................................................................. 43 Summary and Conclusions ............................................................................................ 48 CHAPTER 3: USER EMPOWERMENT AND SELF-REGULATION – IS IT ENOUGH ? ...... 51 Issues paper ................................................................................................................... 51 The adequacy of existing self-regulatory solutions ....................................................... 52 Self-regulatory tools ...................................................................................................... 55 Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 65 CHAPTER 4: CHANGES IN THE LAW .......................................................................................... 68 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 68 The current laws constraining communication .............................................................. 72 The nature of our proposed reforms .............................................................................. 78 Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 97 CHAPTER 5: ENFORCEMENT ..................................................................................................... 100 Issues paper and submissions ...................................................................................... 100 Recommended model: Tribunal plus approved complaints handling body ................ 107 3 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 133 CHAPTER 6: THE EDUCATION SECTOR .................................................................................. 138 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 138 Approaches to preventing bullying .............................................................................. 140 Legal framework ......................................................................................................... 142 Effectiveness of legal framework ................................................................................ 145 Measurement ............................................................................................................... 150 Reporting ..................................................................................................................... 152 Anti-bullying legislation .............................................................................................. 153 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 156 APPENDIX: COMMUNICATIONS (NEW MEDIA) BILL ......................................................... 159 4 Summary HOW THIS REPORT CAME ABOUT 1. In New Zealand, as in many other jurisdictions around the world, there is growing concern about the use of new communication technologies to cause harm. Cyberspace, in one commentator’s view, has provided a “vast unsupervised public playground” where bad actors can harass, intimidate, and defame, causing emotional and psychological distress to others with relative impunity.1 2. Young people, who are both guinea pigs and pioneers in this technological revolution, are particularly vulnerable. In 2011, the Prime Minister John Key called for a “national conversation” on how to reduce bullying in our schools after cell phone videos of children being bullied became prominent on the internet.2 3. In recent months New Zealand’s Coroners, Police and the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA), which represents secondary school teachers, have all expressed concerns about cyber-bullying and the ways in which the abuse of communication technologies is contributing to some significant issues facing adolescents. These range from truancy and school failure to issues such as depression, self-harm and suicide.3 4. In May 2012, in response to these rising concerns, the Minister responsible for the Law Commission, the Hon Judith Collins, asked us to fast-track part of our project reviewing the adequacy of the regulatory environment for dealing with new and traditional media in the digital era. 5. Our preliminary proposals were set out in an Issues Paper The News Media Meets ‘New Media’: rights, responsibilities and regulation
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