What you need to know about #Stop114A in plain English
Imagine if someone posts a defamatory comment on your blog post. He’s the author, but under an amendment to the law passed by Parliament, you’d be held accountable. Also consider:
- Maybe you offer free wifi at your business premises. Or someone logs on to your home wifi. They post something seditious through your internet connection, you had no idea what was going on.
- Someone posts something libelous from your phone, iPad or laptop. Maybe it was stolen. Maybe someone was trying to get you into trouble. You had no idea what was going on.
Under the new amendment to the Evidence Act 1950, you have to prove your innocence in the matter. This amendment is called Section 114A – Presumption of Fact in Publication. In plain English, it presumes that you willingly published seditious or libelous content if it was traced back to your computer, website or internet connection.
Instead of being innocent until proven guilty, the amendment makes it so that you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent. Read More »
