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Can we PLEASE try to stay SLIGHTLY connected to reality here?
No one is trying to
No legislation has been proposed, no legislation is being drafted.
Likewise, there is absolutely no prospect of any man
What has happened is dating apps have been asked to write a code of conduct for themselves. This does not involve any legislation, it does not involve any penalties, and it CERTAINLY does not involve any new criminal offences applied to users.
This is an example of the government laundering legislation through private entities by pressuring the private entities that if they don't obey, they will be faced with legislation. If they do obey, then the government can claim to have nothing to do with it because it's "just private entities, surely they can do whatever they want".
Are you sure? Because I can easily see this "voluntary" code including mandatory reporting to the government, so after Mr. short-pasty-and-ugly gets shot down (by different women) for the thirteenth time, he ends up facing cyberstalking charges.
If someone were to be charged with cyberstalking in New South Wales, it would be under section 13 of the Crimes Act:
"Stalking" in this context includes "contacting or otherwise approaching a person using the internet", so you could certainly make out that sending messages on a dating app constitutes one element of cyberstalking. But, as I continually remind everyone, to find someone guilty of an offence you need to prove ALL elements of the offence.
In this particular hypothetical, that would include proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. short-pasty-and-ugly intended to cause the women he was contacting to fear harm. There is no way to prove such intent of a man who is just trying to get a date.
In short - you're talking out of your arse.
In short, you just agreed with me. I didn't say they'd be convicted (though I have less confidence in the Australian justice system than you do, and inferring the mens rea from the actus rea is something courts do all the time), I said they'd face charges.
No, I did not agree with you. The fact that such a person would clearly not be guilty of the crime you claim they would be charged with means no prosecutor would bring such an obviously doomed case.
Men nag women for dates already. Cyberstalking is illegal already. If you think men are going to be prosecuted for asking women on dates, why isn't that happening now?
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I don't have a crystal ball. I don't even have the text of the demand sent from the government to the dating sites. But I am certain that if this comes to pass, those who say this won't happen now will be at the forefront of saying the defendant deserves it then.
Oh, certainly, if someone is later prosecuted for asking women on dates, Ashlael will be all over explaining how this isn't really being prosecuted for asking women on dates and besides he was warned. I'm less certain of you.
@AshLael, a prediction has been made about your future behaviour. Tagging you so that if you wind up proving him wrong somebody has a motive to remember the prediction.
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Okay, fair enough, I was being hyperbolic.
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