ABSTRACT
The Protection from Harassment Act (PHA 1997) came into force on March 1997 and makes provision for protecting persons from harassment and similar conduct. The PHA 1997 prescribes that any two 'acts' which form a course of harassing conduct can be charged as a crime. The Crown Court has the same powers and duties in relation to a person who is by virtue of section4(5) convicted before it of an offence under section 2 as a magistrates' court would have on convicting him of the offence. A number of respondents raised concerns relating to cyber-stalking. For the most part, social network site operators adopt sensible and responsible positions on illegal, inappropriate, and offensive content hosted on their sites in the terms and conditions they require for use of their services. Internet service providers and social media also already have a legal obligation to cooperate with the police during investigations of allegations of harassment and stalking.
