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Online Harassment : An Issue Of Freedom Of Speech

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Online harassment is turning into a larger and larger global issue. It is no longer that of children being too harsh to their peers, or celebrities being attacking for some tid-bit they said off handedly. Though both of these still occur, the scale has broadened to a point where it is felt laws must be enacted to combat this. Like the world around us, the online assault of these people is personal, using images and degrading comments based from gender and race, arbitrary and unchangeable characteristics of people. Some may say online assault is an issue of freedom of speech and how it is abused, others may say it is a criminal issue and should be treated as such with laws and regulation, another may say it is an issue of inequality that we all must combat. But beyond oppression of minorities, in what ways is online harassment gendered? A starting attempt to dissect this is to decipher whether these attacks and percecutions online are a free speech or criminal issue. It’s a criminal act to legitimately threaten someone, this is not disputed, what is disputed is how to determine the difference, as Tom Slater phrases it, “between a joke, criticism, the posturing of a keyboard wielding shut-in and genuine threats,” (Slater). Slater believes online harassment is a free speech issue, one that cannot be dealt with by with by governing forces, or higher courts. He believes it’s not an issue that can easily be done away with, and is not something that law can interfere with for fear

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