Facebook Restraining Order for Cyber Bully

A Facebook Restraining Order (called an Intervention Order there) to deal with a Cyber Bully? Yes, it did occur. In order to have teeth, a restraining order has to be served on the person being restrained, but what if the “Cyber Bully” perpetrator uses cyberspace to continue to commit crimes and can’t be reached in person? An Australian court gave them permission to use the medium on which the Cyber Bully was harassing his victim to deliver the “Intervention order” as it is called down under: making it the first ever Facebook restraining order. Australian Police got creative in giving out that restraining order. A police officer sought permission from the court to video tape himself reading the restraining order and received it.

Allowing this method of delivery may set a shocking new precedent. The court gave special approval in this case, as the user continues to use his profile regularly. Upon sending the video via Facebook, the court would consider the restraining order to have been served. This method can indeed open a doorway to other bad precedents according to some. What if someone merely dresses up in a police uniform and reads a fake restraining order, for example? What if users do not log in to their account? What mediums are considered acceptable? All social media? forums? messenger services?

For now though, the police are merely hoping the “Facebook restraining order” will stop one Cyber Bully from potentially committing a crime in the future. The police said, “We used the same methods to catch up with the offending person as he used to contact the victim in the first place. Police will always pursue traditional means to enforce the law and to protect the community, but we won’t shy away from innovative methods”.