Is it illegal to name and shame rioters online?

what an utter crock by a completely out of touch gobshite.

Daniel Henry should be the poster boy of why the courts don't work;
the best he can do is: oh, we can't call them criminals just yet

Society is taking over the role that the courts are failing to live up to: proper punishment of criminals.

If you actually rad the article, all he's saying is it's illegal to label people criminals who may be no such thing. That's the court's job.

He also says this: "Posting that someone was a rioter, or encouraged the rioters, is defensible if the audio-visual evidence supports that.

In addition, concluding that a depicted act is deplorable or shameful is protected comment on a matter of public interest."

And he makes a good point here: "As a society we should withhold judgment, not only where the circumstances are unclear, but where the pictures seem clear but the whole story has yet to come out."

I think he throws the voice or reason into a situation where the mob mentality has taken over going after the rioters just as much as in the initial riot.

Mr. Henry is a Class One liberal asshat.



What a fracking crock of crap!

What utter nonsense!

Let me ask, Mr. Henry, do you expect the police to show up when some nutbar is shooting up a school and to then take their time to examine the evidence before they rush to judgment and shoot the psychpath in order save kids?

Hmmm?

Because the same chain of logic the police follow in rapidly identifying a criminal is what the public is using here and, if you haven't noticed Mr. Henry, it seems that the public is sick to fracking DEATH of idiots with your pathetic and limp di*ked point of view.

What's "civilized" is not allowing criminals to get away with their crimes because some whiny little puke like yourself is all too eager to parse the 'root causes' of their acts and allow them to get away with it.

No sir, not this time! This time around the people of Canada are fed up with waiting around for your idea of 'justice'.

You know, the idea of justice that includes cutting Karla Homolka loose while all of her victims are dead.

Were I you Mr. Henry, I'd shut my pie hole because I'd give consideration to the fact that the bloggers and the emailers have discovered that they've got the power to ruin the lives of those who threaten society.

And that means .

I can't wait to see the tidal wave of letters to your paper demanding that you find a new job.

And you're a typical reactionary, hang em high before we even have the evidence. He's talking about convicting people before they are found guilty, not police operations. I don't know what it is with you right wingers who seem to want to do away with the court system and go back to vigilante justice. Until it involves you or someone you care about of course.

Go and look at the pics and video.

Evidence is there, plain as day.

What whole story? When you have pictures of individuals setting fire to police cars, looting businesses, and other criminal acts, what else can be shared?

Ahh, that's right, they were just drunk, or a part of the mob mentality, or other bullshit. Right...

In the end, society is still leaving it to the criminal justice system to punish said criminals. Those who have been "outed" as rioters haven't been lynched, or beaten, but rather have been pressured publicly and privately to turn themselves in. If that's the new face of "Vigilantism" in modern society, then why should anybody ever call the police whenever they think they're witnessing or have information over a crime?

Go and look at the pics and video.

Evidence is there, plain as day.

And it's not your job to make a criminal judgement about them. That's the court's job, where all the evidence is considered. We all know even pictures can lie. As the guy says, go ahead and post those pics to identify people who were there. Call the behavior shameful. Just don't be labeling people as criminals who haven't been convicted and may not be when all the evidence is considered in court.

What whole story? When you have pictures of individuals setting fire to police cars, looting businesses, and other criminal acts, what else can be shared?

Ahh, that's right, they were just drunk, or a part of the mob mentality, or other bullshit. Right...

In the end, society is still leaving it to the criminal justice system to punish said criminals. Those who have been "outed" as rioters haven't been lynched, or beaten, but rather have been pressured publicly and privately to turn themselves in. If that's the new face of "Vigilantism" in modern society, then why should anybody ever call the police whenever they think they're witnessing or have information over a crime?

And the guy is advocating using those pictures to pressure people to turn themselves in. He's just saying that people should be careful about what they label people in those pics who have been convicted of nothing.

and Andy agrees

As usual, it's a very poor headline. It's not illegal to name and shame people who were at the riot, and this guy's not saying it is. He is saying that it might be libel to label them criminals, and that with underage offenders if they go before the courts, and the site with their pics makes a connection to that, the site could have problems. He' pointing out the facts of law.

Go and look at the pics and video.

Evidence is there, plain as day.

And it's not your job to make a criminal judgement about them. That's the court's job, where all the evidence is considered. We all know even pictures can lie. As the guy says, go ahead and post those pics to identify people who were there. Call the behavior shameful. Just don't be labeling people as criminals who haven't been convicted and may not be when all the evidence is considered in court.

It's not your job to turn a blind eye to an obvious criminal act.

Any citizen has a power of arrest under our Criminal Code to stop those openly committing a criminal offence.

There were so many obvious criminal offences captured on camera. Those committing them are not 'convicted' of the offence but a right minded citizen can say, from the evidence of the numerous photos that these are criminal acts, therefore the person committing that act is a criminal. Not a 'convicted criminal' but a criminal none the less.

Stay on yer arse and wait for the courts decided wrong from right andy.

Our Criminal Code allows for more civic minded citizens to respond when they see a criminal act being committed.

Check out Sec’s 24 and 494 of the Criminal Code as you continue to make excuses not to call these criminals what they are and in the next breath blame the police for not stopping these patently clear-cut criminals from rioting, burning looting etc.

Saying that these obvious criminal acts need the rubber stamping of a court before they are indeed 'criminal' is utter bollocks. But then I expect nothing less from you.

so you're a lawyer now too.

Here's what the guy said: "On the other hand, labelling someone as a "criminal" could require proof close to the criminal standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt" if a defamation lawsuit were launched."

"Identifying and showing young people at these riots is perfectly within the law — until they are charged with an offence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

At that point, publications have to remove the link between the charges and the identifiable young person involved, and trust that earlier posts still online don't make that link plain."

"The fact that the law permits bloggers to help the police identify rioters is beneficial. It discourages potential rioters from believing that they're anonymous and can get away with anti-social behaviour in future.

It also helps us find and punish the right people.

This works as long as we remind ourselves that we are facilitating justice, not working on substitute remedies without the safeguards that are built into our current system to protect innocents caught up in controversial events.

As a society we should withhold judgment, not only where the circumstances are unclear, but where the pictures seem clear but the whole story has yet to come out.

It's easy to get caught up in the frenzy of getting the bad guys.

But we shouldn't forget that we're not only defending ourselves and our property against the actions of particular people, we're defending our civilized democracy, which works because of institutions like the justice system that, by and large, keep us peaceful and secure."

You really have a problem with any of that? If you do, you should turn in your badge.

Trolling trolling trolling....