The nightmare scenario for all citizens in democratic states is for their elected representatives to pass laws to make everyone guilty of serious criminal offenses, and then selectively prosecute and imprison those who do not support the Party. That is where we have arrived in Barbados with the Cybercrime Bill.
The Cybercrime Bill is likely the most dangerous bill ever drafted by our elected representatives in our 58 years of Independence. Anyone whose public or private comments annoys another person could result in the commenter being fined $70,000 and imprisoned for 7 years. After public outcry, the Bill was sent to a Joint Select Committee of Parliament that recommended increasing the liabilities to a $100,000 fine and 10 years imprisonment.
SCORNED WOMEN.
The Committee’s report contains the views of both supporters and opposers of the Bill. A repeated justification for the offending sections of the Bill was their fear of the fury of today’s scorned women. I am not making this up.
“However, we are all familiar as Barbadian men with the scenario where a man has become careless in the management of his amorous relationships. He strikes up a relationship with a woman who is not his wife. That third party then gets on the telephone six or nine months later on and calls up the wife, “You think you got de ring, I got de man doh.” (Report of the Joint Select Committee on the Cybercrime Bill, 2024)
UNFAITHFUL MEN.
Previously, men who were unfaithful to their wives could carry on that relationship in secret. The women kept that secret while the men were alive. Children of the unfaithful man from different mothers may meet for the first time at their father’s funeral.
The women of today appear unwilling to keep such secrets. The Internet has given them more power than their sisters of past generations who were forced to suffer in silence. Today’s women, emboldened by the rise of the ‘me too’ and ‘times up’ movements, may share their experiences on the Internet, resulting in the now exposed unfaithful men feeling: annoyed, embarrassed, humiliated, anxious and severely emotionally distressed – as stated in the Cybercrime Bill.
DEFAMATION OPTION.
If someone publishes lies about a person on the Internet, the person may: (i) ignore it and let the story die a natural death by nonattention, (ii) defend himself on the Internet which may give the story more attention, or (iii) sue the publisher in court under the Defamation Act.
The Defamation Act specifies a maximum penalty for criminal libel of $2,000 and one year in prison (Defamation Act, Section 34). However, such punishments appear insufficient to control a scorned woman, whom the Bible states has more fury than the fires of hell – where satan dwells. What are unfaithful men to do with today’s out-of-control scorned women?
SCORNED WOMAN BILL.
Unfaithful men may find relief in the Cybercrime (Scorned Woman) Bill. The Committee revealed that the Government plans to abolish Section 34 of the Defamation Act, which would allow unfaithful men to threaten their scorned women with bankruptcy and 7 years imprisonment if they do not behave themselves.
The Cybercrime Bill seems carefully crafted to give unfaithful men power over the women they can no longer control. Barbadian women may find themselves in such situations for diverse reasons. Therefore, women must decide whether they want to live in silence like their sisters of previous generations or not. Welcome to the New Republic.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.