The United Kingdom has ignited a hot debate in the struggle to regulate the Internet.

Keeley Houghton, 18, of Malvern, Worcestshire, England, has been sentenced to three months in a juvenile detention center for posting death threats against another teen, Emily Moore, on her facebook page. The threats were apparently part of a larger campaign of bullying Moore for the past four years. Houghton, apparently referring to herself in the third person, wrote on her page: “Keeley is going to murder the ******. She is an actress. What a ******* liberty. Emily ******** Moore.”

The judge ruling on the case did not hold back in revealing his displeasure with her actions:

“Since Emily Moore was 14 you have waged compelling threats and violent abuse towards her. Bullies are by their nature cowards, in school and society. The evil, odious effects of being bullied stay with you for life. On this day you did an act of gratuitous nastiness to satisfy your own twisted nature.”

Houghton will have plenty of time to think about her words and actions during her three-month sentence. A British lawfirm specializing in media says that the ruling falls under the Protection from Harassment Act, which covers all forms of harassment and can have a civil or criminal outcome.

Do you think this is too heavy-handed or not heavy-handed enough?

Filed under: Internet Safety News