Jorden runt på 80 millisekunder. En rättsvetenskaplig uppsats om huruvida brotten förtal och olaga integritetsintrång är tillräckligt anpassade till dagens internetanvändning

Sammanfattning: In a world where an increasing portion of our lives takes place online, new elements to consider emerge that affect our realities. In a digital era where people can hide behind their screens, the spread of gossip, private photos, and harassment has gained new life. The part of our lives that does not reside on a website or in a chat room recedes daily, and legislation needs to keep up. To defend the interests that legitimize a certain legislation, the perception of the offense needs to be revised and modernized. This paper aims to investigate whether defamation and unlawful violation of a person’s integrity are, as legislation, adequately adapted to today’s internet habits, or if the phrasings or adjudications need to be modified. Research has been done to determine the interests underlying the criminalization, the neces-sary conditions for a conviction, and how these conditions should be inter-preted according to legislative history and legal literature. Relevant case law considering both criminal offenses has also been studied and presented. The conclusion drawn in the third chapter of the paper is that several adjust-ments need to be made for the legislation in matter to be relevant in today’s cyber society. Regarding defamation, the following is established: for the legislation to en-compass hateful comments that are in no way based on reality but that affect the reputation of the targeted individual, a narrow opening regarding personal attacks should be added to the legal rule. The purpose is to protect the interest that legitimizes the criminalization of defamation: the targeted individual’s honor. As to unlawful violation of a person’s integrity, the essay concludes – in ac-cordance with a ruling by the Supreme Court – that an extensive interpretation of all the types of information that are exhaustively listed in the legal rule would better protect individuals’ privacy and personal integrity. Finally, a conclusion that applies to both offenses is that they should be con-sidered continuous offenses when the dissemination occurs on open websites, but as separate instances of dissemination when it occurs on private websites or in private chat rooms.