Kränkningar på internet - Det straffrättsliga skyddet av den personliga och sexuella integriteten

Sammanfattning: This essay aims to investigate the legal consequences of online harassment. Violations of the personal privacy of frequent social media users are a growing problem, which affects a big part of the population. Current legislation regarding different kinds of harassment is mainly focused on physical acts. This might be problematic since online harassment does not take place in the physical world but in the virtual. Hence, victims of online harassment risk not being able to receive restitution from the legal system. Different social groups are affected by different expressions of harassment. It is more common for men and boys to be threatened or have damaging rumours targeting their honour spread online than it is for women and girls. Women and girls are, on the other hand, more often facing sexual harassment online. A common kind of harassment, targeting the person’s sexuality, is having a picture or film spread over the Internet without permission. This can be experienced as very offending and hurtful for the victims but is difficult for the legal system to act against under the current legislation. The essay compares the current legislation with a proposed legislative change presented in the Swedish Government Official Report SOU 2016:7. The proposition aims to strengthen the protection of personal privacy. A new penalty provision is proposed, called unlawful violation of privacy (olaga integritetsintrång). This would criminalise spreading information, which could be harmful to the person affected, including pictures of people who are naked or in sexual situations. The conclusion of the essay is that an adoption of the proposition given in SOU 2016:7 might strengthen the protection of personal privacy in a positive manner.