Editor:
Re: Criminal charges rejected twice against man who defamed Burnaby private eye, NOW, Oct. 21
Over the course of the last five years, I have been the target of relentless defamation online. Aside from the defamation, the individual also recorded himself, on video, threatening me. This was brought to the attention of the police, who despite going to Crown, were unable to get this individual charged.
As a result, my only recourse was to file a civil claim for defamation against this individual. Unfortunately, that has not stopped them from contenting to engage in their defaming and harassing behaviour, so I can definitely relate to what the individual in Cornelia Naylor's article has had to go through.
It seems as though there isn't really much that can be done in terms of online harassment. In fact, Crown's excuse for not charging the individual, according to police, was because, "being online is a choice."
To me that's just a lazy way of them saying, "Sorry, we have better things to do than fight people's internet battles." And maybe they do, but harassment and threats are still considered to be a crime according to the criminal code - otherwise why even have it in the criminal code at all?
The people who engage in this behaviour get nothing more than a slap on the wrist, which only further encourages them to keep it up.
Brianne Amira
