Reposting, sharing explicit photos/videos, offensive social media post are criminal acts

Mar 21, 2021 News

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All about the Cybercrime Act…

By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News – Many times when explicit images or videos are leaked, especially with females, most persons tend to join the ‘train’ and broadcast the images or videos.
Some would take it to the extent of posting the same images or videos on their social media platforms’ statuses. Being involved in such an act is a crime and carries a period of jail-time with a fine.

HISTORY
Guyana’s Cybercrime Bill 2016 was presented by the then Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams. It was published on August 4, 2016.
After the Bill was presented to the National Assembly, the proposed Section 18, ‘Sedition,’ had caused a public outcry. However, on July 20, 2018, the Coalition Government used its majority to pass the Cybercrime Bill with an amendment expunging the controversial sedition clause.

CYBERCRIME
Cybercrime is the use of a computer to carry out illegal acts. Cybercrimes are usually done with the use of the internet and the different instruments that it has available.
Most people are not aware of this Act and the penalties that are attached to offences underneath the Act.
Some Cybercrime offences in Guyana are: illegal access to a computer system, child pornography, offences against the State, publication or transmission of images of private parts of a person and using a computer system to coerce, harass, intimidate, humiliate, etc., a person.
Since the passage of the Bill, numerous persons were charged, put before the court and even convicted.

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
According to Section 2:14, “A person commits an offence if the person intentionally produces child pornography for the purpose of its distribution through a computer system; offers or makes available, distributes or transmits child pornography through a computer system; procures or obtains child pornography through a computer system for himself or another person; or possesses child pornography in a computer system or on a computer data storage medium.”
Last April, two videos of child pornography surfaced and it went viral on Guyana social media platforms. After the video surfaced, the taxi-driver that videoed the act went into hiding.
However, after some months, he was arrested, charged and put before the court.
According to reports, the first video showed the taxi driver and an underage girl sitting in the back of his car. The man then unzipped his pants, revealing his private part, after that the underage girl was then seen performing oral sex as the taxi-driver videoed the act.
The second video later surfaced with the same taxi-driver and another underage girl. Not only is it an offence to rape, or sexually assault a minor, but it is also an offence to record any sex act with a minor. That offence is called ‘child pornography.’
According to the law, anyone who is found guilty of child pornography at the Magistrate’s Court level, where the matter is tried summarily, will be liable to a fine of $10M and five years’ imprisonment. If the matter is tried indictably and the person is found guilty of child pornography in the High Court, he/she will be liable to a fine of $15M and 10 years imprisonment.

PUBLISHING EXPLICIT PHOTOS/VIDEOS OR REMARKS
Another law under the Cybercrime Act is, “Using a computer to publish or transmit computer data that is obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious or indecent with intent to humiliate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to another person.”
Earlier this year, a Kitty man was charged for allegedly sharing nude photographs of a 16-year-old girl, who refused to have a relationship with him.
The defendant, Ryan Seecharran, 33, made his first appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court before Principal Magistrate, Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus. He pleaded not guilty to the charge, which stated that on January 10, 2021, at Kitty, Georgetown, he used a computer system to publish obscene/explicit photographs of a 16-year-old girl via WhatsApp status to humiliate her, causing her substantial emotional distress.
According to reports, Seecharran and the teen are known to each other since they once shared a friendship. It is alleged that on the day in question, Seecharran asked the teen to be in a relationship with her and she turned down his request. This reportedly made him angry and he posted the photographs of her on his WhatsApp status.
The girl had reportedly sent the photographs to one of her female friends, who then shared the photographs with Seecharran. His matter is presently ongoing, while he is out on $300,000 bail.
Another matter is that of Chairman of the A Partnership for National Unity (ANPU) in Region Two, Prince Holder, who is charged for Cyber-bullying.
It is alleged that Holder used a computer system to publish or transmit electronic data of Tamesh Jagmohan that is obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious or indecent with intent to humiliate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to Jagmohan. Holder denied the charge and is currently out on $10,000 bail.
During March 2020, 21-year-old, Melissa Ann Pestano and Janelle Williams, 23, were sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined $5M each for sharing a sex tape of their friend on social media.
Pestano, Williams and the victim were friends and they were very close. Based on reports, Pestano found out that the victim was having an affair with her boyfriend.
After finding out about the affair, Pestano and Williams confronted the victim and later planned to get back at her.
It was reported that the women arranged for Pestano’s boyfriend and the victim to book a room at the K&VC International Hotel at South Road, Georgetown. Ten minutes after the two checked into the room, Pestano arrived and was given information about which room they were in. Pestano then entered the room and videoed the sex act.
Pestano had sent a copy of the video to Williams, who then shared the video with several persons. Thereafter the video was widely circulated on social media. The matter was reported and the women were later arrested and subsequently charged for the offence. They are currently behind bars for sharing the sex tape of their friends on social media.
A woman was also jailed last month for not only assaulting, but for also posting several pictures of her ex-girlfriend, along with derogatory remarks.
According to reports, between June 22, 2020, and June 25, 2020, at Waterloo Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown, Roshana Hunte used a computer system, to publish electronic data of her ex-girlfriend that was obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious or indecent with intent to humiliate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to her.
As a result of Hunte’s action, she was sentenced to three years imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of $5M.
The Cybercrime Act not only covers the exposing or broadcasting of images or videos to humiliate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to someone but it also covers threats that are post on Facebook and other social media platforms.
One example of that matter is that of Ryan Williams, a store clerk, who made a Facebook post threatening to kill the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Claudette Singh, and her family.
Williams made the post during the elections impasse last year.
However, he has since issued an apology to the GECOM Chair for his Facebook post.
Anyone who is found guilty of ‘using a computer system to coerce, harass, intimidate, humiliate, etc. a person,’ at the Magistrate’s Court level, will be liable to a fine of $5M and three years’ imprisonment. If the matter is tried indictably and the person is found guilty of child pornography in the High Court, he/she will be liable to a fine of $10M and five years’ imprisonment.
Illegal access to a computer system, illegal interception, illegal data interference, illegal acquisition of data, illegal system interference, and illegal devices, are all offences under the Cybercrime Act. They are also other offences that falls under the Cybercrime Act, which carries from months to years of imprisonment and hefty fines.

 

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