By Helen Campbell -
Snapshot
- Technology-facilitated stalking and abuse is real abuse, causing real harm.
- It is important to be aware of the remedies and to take action to protect your clients.
- Generally speaking, behaviour that can be considered technology-facilitated stalking or harassment can amount to a criminal offence.
- There is also a range of effective new Commonwealth civil penalties and the eSafety Commissioner has been given greater powers of enforcement.
Technology-facilitated stalking and abuse is real abuse causing real harm, and there are legal remedies available to address it. It is important to be aware of the remedies and to take action to protect your clients. It is still too frequently under-enforced by police. But the new powers of the e-Safety Commissioner may go some way to address this.
A key thing to note is that the behaviour of perpetrators in this area is not new – it’s just that advances in technology have given them new tactics to continue to perpetrate.