Planning to do something
Apparently inspired by the government's haste to start prosecuting illegal file sharers, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) - which covers all the UK bar Scotland - has published its strategy for tackling e-crime over the next year and a half.
Despite the Internet having been around for a while, this is the first such strategy adopted by the police force and has been immediately condemned by independent e-crime advice site e-victims as "too little, too late".
The document, which is dated 28 May 2009 but has only just been released, commences with a paragraph of self-congratulation and goes on to explain that there's quite a lot of activity on the Internet these days. It then concedes: "We are starting from a low base", and warns that this document is just stage one on the road to actually doing something.
Jennifer Perry, the MD of e-victims, waded through further pages of bureaucratic self-justification to find this quote in the document: "Of particular concern is the belief by some victims that the police will not act if they report computer-related crime."
Perry thinks this is very much the case. "It is our experience, working with hundreds of e-victims, that most of the time police turn e-victims away," she said. "They refuse to take a report, they don't provide any practical advice, and if they refer e-victims to another organisation it is often to the wrong one."
She also points out that this strategy is focused on crimes concerning money, like fraud. More social crimes, which could include public humiliation or harassment, seem to be completely overlooked.
"Online harassment is a common example of a crime where we get frequent cries for help because the police simply refuse to take a report or assist the victim," said Perry. "Furthermore, they don't regard it as in their remit to inform victims that they can take the person to court themselves under Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and get a restraining order."
We would like to know your thoughts on e-crime. Have you ever been the victim of it and do you think people are sufficiently protected from humiliation and harassment online? Let us know in the HEXUS.community discussion forums.
