Amendment to the Evidence Act - relating to Internet usage

What do you think of the amendment to the Evidence Act passed by the Dewan Rakyat last month? It is one thing to bring anonymous hate-mail senders and stalkers to book but quite another when innocent Internet-users are held responsible for an act that they are not guilty of.

Basically it means the owner of the Internet account will be held liable for anything published on his blog, his Facebook page, Twitter, etc.

The amendment to Section 114(a) of the Evidence Act includes the following stipulations:

> If your name, photograph or pseudonym appears on any publication depicting yourself as the author, you are deemed to have published the content.

> If a posting comes from your Internet or phone account, you are deemed to be the publisher unless the contrary is proved.

> If you have the control or custody of any computer which published any material, you are presumed to be the publisher unless proven otherwise.

Take a look at the clauses..

Source: The Star

Answering critics who said the amendment was unfair in pushing the burden of proof to the accused, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Chairman, Datuk Mohamed Sharil Mohamed Tarmizi, said that owners of Internet accounts where hate messages had originated could easily rebut charges against them if they were innocent.

“For example, if you can produce witnesses to say that you were nowhere near your computer or any other communicating device at the time the message was sent out, you can get off,” Sharil said.

More: The Star..Cyber bullies and stalkers often get away because of lack of evidence