Monday, June 23, 2008

Saucy SMS sending sees Scots slide in to slammer!

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The Register is reporting on a new Sexual Offences Bill just published in Scotland, which means that people can face up to 10 YEARS in jail for sending SMS/MMS/emails with (inappropriate) sexual content…

The offence will be committed if someone sends an unsolicited text message to someone else which a court finds was designed to give the sender sexual gratification or to humiliate, distress or alarm the receiver. Causing a person to see or hear an indecent communication is also an offence. It can be committed by reading "a passage in a book or magazine" or by communicating the sounds of actual or simulated sexual activity or by communicating in sign language.

Of course, there is going to be an element of judgement as to where a message crosses from being flirty to abusive or humiliating - and given modern language in use in this country, I wouldn't like to be the person/people responsible for that decision - nuance are everything in a language, and English certain has it's share of them!

[Via: The Register]

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