Call for new law to clamp down on internet hate sites

The next Scottish Parliament should strengthen the law surrounding internet hate sites, political leaders said yesterday.

It is believed there have been no prosecutions in recent years in connection with the internet bile that attaches itself to Rangers and Celtic.

Many of the sites responsible are still up and running, despite the events of recent days.

Solicitor General Frank Mulholland has indicated that such offences will soon be punishable by up to five years in prison.

But Labour's community safety spokesman James Kelly said: "It's clear from recent days that there are still instances of online campaigns which are sectarian in nature and are unacceptable.

"As well as condemning that behaviour, the authorities should be doing all in their power to try and clamp down on that. The job for a future parliament is to look at the laws around the internet and examine whether they're tough enough or not - and if they're not, look to beef those up.

"It's not just a case of saying that these online campaigns are unacceptable and we want the authorities to act. We must ensure that the authorities have got the appropriate tools in legislation at their disposal to clamp down on this."

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Two youth footballers with Scottish senior clubs have been dismissed in recent days over online comments. Max McKee, an under-19 player with Clyde, was sacked after posting on Twitter: "Somebody needs to hurry up and shoot Neil Lennon." Berwick Rangers youth player Keiran Bowell was dismissed for an online post which said he wished Lennon had been killed.

Two further players were at the centre of internal probes over comments allegedly posted on social network forums.

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said the internet service providers (ISPs) and hosting companies must take the "same degree of responsibility" as newspapers or magazine publishers in policing their content. "It's not going to be enough just for politicians to hold summits," he said.

"If an ISP or a hosting company is having their service abused, or is allowing it to be abused in that way, they need to take action to cut people off."

He pointed to efforts to shut down antisemitic, far-right and Islamophobic sites and said the "same approach" was needed to the sectarian sites and posts linked to the Old Firm.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Office said: "The prosecution takes all crimes aggravated by religious prejudice extremely seriously."

HOW TO COMPLAIN

Social media sites are well set up to deal with complaints about comments users have published, with some even having a Report/Block button.

If the site does not have such a button, there should be a contact section to alert site administrators. If the content is more serious, it can be referred to the Internet Watch Foundation, which works with the police to eradicate illegal online material. Reporting to social media sites and to the foundation can be done anonymously.