A bill tabled before parliament seeks to grant authority to courts to order the shutdown of websites containing racist or xenophobic content, rendering them inaccessible to the public regardless of whether the person behind the content is found.
The bill foresees the authorisation of police, upon locating websites containing racist and/or xenophobic content and upon receiving the green light from the chief of police and the attorney-general, to directly request from the court an order to make the inappropriate online content inaccessible to the public.
The court could do so either by ordering the website’s removal, or by making the content in question inaccessible while retaining the site online, or by making the site itself inaccessible.
The court order can demand immediate compliance, or compliance within a set date, or set certain terms, as deemed necessary by the court after it secures evidence of the inappropriate online content.
Non-compliance to the court order is seen as punishable with jail time of up to three years and a fine of up to €170,000.
The bill, prepared by the Justice Ministry and reviewed by the legal service, is now before parliament awaiting approval.
In its report accompanying the bill, the Justice Ministry highlights the necessity of managing the dissemination of racist or xenophobic content on the web.
The ministry adds that through this bill, inappropriate content can be blocked or removed regardless of whether the person behind the content is found, in this way addressing the difficulties faced by the authorities in locating the culprit and the consequent protracted time period needed to achieve their conviction and securing the removal of the content.
The post New bill to shutdown racist or xenophobic websites appeared first on Cyprus Mail.
Read more → https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/03/01/new-bill-to-shutdown-racist-or-xenophobic-websites/
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου