Cyberbullying and cyber law

This paper examines two recent Canadian legislative initiatives intended in whole or in part to combat cyberbullying: the Cyber-Safety Act of Nova Scotia and the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act. Both pieces of legislation were responses to the suicide deaths of female teenagers Rehtaeh Parsons in Nova Scotia and Amanda Todd in British Columbia. It is questionable whether either suicide was directly caused by cyberbullying. Todd was primarily a victim of an adult “capper” living in the Netherlands, who persuaded her to expose her breasts via web cam, and then attempted to use the captured images to extort money and more images. Parsons was filmed engaging in what police concluded was consensual sex with several teenage boys at a house party. The cell phone video was posted on the Internet, making Parsons a victim of “sexting.” In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada fired a shot across the bow of Bill C-30, the immediate predecessor to the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, ruling that a police search (permissible under Bill C-30) in a child pornography case infringed upon constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure, and upon the right to privacy in cyberspace. In 2015, the Cyber-Safety Act of Nova Scotia was struck down by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia because it violated constitutional rights to freedom of expression and to life, liberty and security of person. In a criminal harassment case involving Twitter, the Ontario Court of Justice ruled in 2016 that Twitter is like a public square, where freedom of expression is protected, and where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. These three court decisions can be expected to limit the extent to which Canadian legislators and law enforcement agencies can go in their efforts to pursue and prosecute cyberbullies and/or cyber criminals.