Facebook users get tagged by Judge for unacceptable behaviour

Jail time for a Facebook stunt goes to show that what you do with social media can have real world legal consequences. It is important to recognise that the laws that apply in the real world also apply in cyberspace. Earlier in the year, in our article ' Cyberspace is no longer a lawless world' (27 April 2012), we wrote about the case of Ronnie Usmanov who was ordered to serve a suspended sentence for posting nude photos of his exgirlfriend on Facebook. The more recent case of David McRory and Joshua Turner is another demonstration of the potential extent of those legal consequences.

Facts

David McRory and his friend Joshua Turner, both 22, created a Facebook page called Bender's Root Rate which invited Bendigo citizens to rate the sexual performance of their partners, some as young as 13.