Georgia Varley-inspired trolling law is waste of time says internet campaigner

Jan 14 2012 by Laura Cox, Liverpool Echo

AN INTERNET campaigner has claimed attempts to outlaw “trolling” after a Facebook group dedicated to Georgia Varley was sabotaged as a “waste of legislative time”.

But Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram, who is trying to get new laws through parliament, today insisted stronger action was needed to stop those who post abusive messages on websites.

Last year there was a furious reaction to messages left on a tribute page to train tragedy victim Georgia Varley.

The 16-year-old Birkenhead sixth form student was killed on October 22 at James Street railway station when she slipped from a platform and fell beneath a Wirral line train.

Within days of her death a Facebook page set up by friends in her memory was attacked by trolls, posting offensive content from locations abroad and under pseudonyms.

As friends tried to keep control of the page, Walton MP Steve Rotherham, took action by bringing up the issue in Parliament.

But in a letter to the ECHO, self-proclaimed trolling expert Jonathan Bishop, from Swansea, the founder of the “Trolling Academy” claimed existing legislation already in place could be used to stop the abuse.