Dale Marshall, the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, said on Monday that rumors on social media that the government plans to pass a law that will make it illegal, among other things, to record a fight, the police, or someone without their permission were “pure garbage.”
Marshall said that he had read “with some dismay” a widely shared statement on social media that claimed to explain what would be in a bill called the “Computer Misuse Bill.”
“Unfortunately, Barbadians both at home and abroad have taken what they’ve read as true and thought that it came from a reliable or knowledgeable source. This has led to a lot of discussion.
“That statement says that the Government plans to pass a law that will make it illegal, among other things, to record a fight, to record the police, or to record someone without their permission,” Marshall said.
He said that the statement goes on to say that people need permission from a Government Minister to record or post projects, and that you need permission from the Government Information Service to post things on social media. It sounds like even recording yourself will be a crime.
“Let’s just call that what it is: pure trash. Mischief has taken on a life of its own,” Marshall said. “We are bringing a new Cybercrime law that will replace the Computer Misuse Act, which is now out of date and not good enough.”
“It will cover a lot of crimes that aren’t covered by the current laws, like cyberbullying, using computers to try to get children to do things, child pornography, revenge porn, cyber forgery, and fraud. The Law Reform Commission, which is led by Sir David Simmons, did the research and work on it.
Marshall said that the Law Reform Commission had made a draft Bill, which now needs to be looked at by Cabinet. If it is accepted, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel will use it as a starting point for more writing.
“I’ve seen and read the draft Bill, and I can assure Barbadians that none of the things that are being said in that misleading statement are in the draft Cybercrime Bill or in the Government’s plans.
“What is being passed around has nothing to do with any government policy,” the Attorney General said.
