The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

FOLLOWING the Police Commissioner’s vow to pursue and bring charges against cases of “lewd” or “obscene” photos published on social media, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson says the government is currently “working on” laws regarding internet policing.

Mrs Maynard-Gibson said just like many jurisdictions around the world, the Bahamas is looking at how to “deal” with internet crime.

She added that any legislation that will brought to Parliament concerning that issue will meet international standards.

“I don’t think anybody anticipated the impact of the social media,” she said. “You know how wide the internet is, you know how powerful it is. It’s a matter that we in the Bahamas are dealing with, as well as jurisdictions all over the world.

“You follow your colleagues in the UK and in the US and you see the challenges they have there as well. So yes, we have to deal with it. Cyberspace isn’t going anywhere. It’s very much a 21st century issue.

“In conjunction with jurisdictions around the world, we will be bringing in place – and we are in fact working on it now – what ought our laws to be, again based upon internationally accepted standards. We have to balance freedom of the press with protecting the public.”

The Attorney General said she could not place a time-line on the legislation, because it is so “new to everybody”.

“We really are speaking to jurisdictions all over the world, so that when we bring something to Parliament, we will be able to clearly articulate what is it we are proposing and why, and that it, in fact, meets international [standards],” she said.

Earlier this month, Comissioner Ellison Greenslade had said: “I send a clear message to all and sundry: have your fun on social media, send your messages to your friends; but this issue of posting lewd pictures of people, obscene pictures of people – whether they are alive or dead or injured – is an area that’s going to get you into grave problems.”

He said technology should be used for “positive reasons, not to malign persons’ characters,” and called on the public to report any published photos of such a nature.

Despite democracy, there are some things that “you cannot do,” he said.