King Canute was a British ruler who was considered almost godly by his people, so in order to dispel this he sat at the edge of the ocean and commanded the waves to stop coming in. He got wet feet.

The Australian Government is going to try and stop the tidal wave of online abuse by trolls using social media. They will introduce legislation that will require Social Media companies to reveal the details of trolls so that those attacked can sue for defamation. If they won’t or can’t provide the information then the companies can be sued instead.

Although the basic idea is good, to expose the hidden keyboard warriors, the reality isn’t so simple. Many people are able to use fake emails or spoof emails addresses as is shown daily by the emails I get from Governments offering to give me massive amounts of money for a small fee. On the assumption that they then move to sue Instagram, Facebook or any of the other social media platforms it is unlikely the small individual will be able to match the legal resources of any massive company.

It will be David versus Goliath again but without a slingshot being available and I think the Government will get wet feet too.

Dennis Fitzgerald,
Melbourne, Australia