Salem, in Auckland?

The following from a correspondent:

And now we see the witchhunt mentality in action, fired by the police apparent inaction, over this ‘roastbusters’ thing, facilitated by facebook and the media. The police have not acted, for whatever reason – I think their claim they need a complaint is a bit feeble. But so the vigilante groups have taken it into their own hands. Today there’s a report of a man killed in Burnley Terrace in Auckland, and it’s being said it’s one of the roastbusters. The older brother of one of them (the other Parker boy) has lost his job (he had a new baby at the weekend) just for being the brother of one of the pair in the media. This is real harm being done.

While this roastbuster gang are beyond despicable, it should not be something that vigilantes take into their own hands.  That in itself shows a loss of trust in ‘the system’ – the Police and justice system. And they are being egged on by social media – the TradeMe threads are cranking people up, the comments sections on various media reports are. The readiness to assume that the police are holding back because one of the boys involved is a cop’s son also suggests that society at large does not trust the police to act properly.

 

Salem, Auckland….

 

Whether the death in Auckland last night is in fact linked to this latest misuse of the internet will be revealed in the fullness of time. There is no doubt however about the vigilante aspect at this point and Trade Me should and Facebook should not be allowing misuse of their message boards or other facilities in this way.

 

On the question of 'nothing being done' it seems again that lack of using the existing Laws, as in the case of using The Harassment Act, rather than waiting for the 'new miracle' Act advanced by the Minister of Justice is again evident. In so much that both Trade Me and Facebook are 'public places' there are various sections of current NZ Law that would allow public 'offence' charges of various types to be laid by police. The Courts are the right place for it to be determine if the Facebook and Trade Me postings are offensive to the public or a threat to public order. Some of the posts readily display offensive material, others incite public disorder.

 

Again we see the authorities unable to grasp the concept that cyber space is a 'reality,' in fact a public place and not somewhere in 'space.' These are offences conceived and committed from behind computers electronically linked into the homes of other New Zealanders, just as shouts may be from a street corner into a private address. Any member of the public has the right to complain about this to police about this and there is already precedent for New Zealand Courts to accept that harassment can and does take place in 'cyber space.'