Examining Section 127 of the UK Communications 2003

Lilian Edwards, University of Strathcylde Law School, has published Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003: Threat or Menace? in volume 23 of the SCL Journal (November 2012). Here is the abstract.

Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 , once one of the more obscure provisions of the UK cybercrime world, has become notorious in 2012 for being used capriciously to suppress online speech in causes celebre such as the “Twitter joke trial” of Paul Chambers. After a brief survey of recent high profile cases, the article surveys the legislative background to s 127 and suggests a provision designed for post and telecoms in an era of state monopoly services is being misapplied to the many to many private infrastructure of Internet communications.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.