Dr Mary Aiken speaking before the Justice Committee Image: Oireachtas TV via PA Images Dr Mary Aiken speaking before the Justice Committee Image: Oireachtas TV via PA Images THE GOVERNMENT HAS made “little or no progress” in tackling online abuse, child sexual exploitation, harassment and intimidation despite numerous investigations, an Oireachtas committee has been told.
Dr Aiken, a professor at the Department of Law and Criminology, University of East London, said that the influence of the internet and social media is “not an abstract concept”.She told the committee that there is a relationship between cyberbullying, self-esteem, and self-harm, as well as between sexted images, harassment, online coercion and extortion.
She continued: “Our challenge as policymakers is not to engage in determined myopia and deliberate fragmentation strategies, or to allow commercial stakeholders to perpetuate skilful deflection and obfuscation strategies, but to urgently develop a new system of accountability, legislative and statutory instruments and oversight, that will replace the current failed model of self-regulation.
He raised concerns over how gardai handle complaints about online harassment saying that there is an unwillingness to investigate cases of online harassment. It is disappointing that the government has failed to implement any of the recommendations made by the Internet Content Advisory Group or the Law Reform Commission. In 2014, the Internet Content Advisory Group recommended the establishment of a National Council for Child Internet Safety while in 2016 the Law Reform Commission recommended that harmful communications online be regulated by law.
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