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Lying about your Age On-Line:
graememk - 29/5/08 at 08:55 AM

I have just been asked by a local solicitor if the below statment is true ?

"Any person who lies about their age on the Internet is committing a crime under the sex offenders act. It is a criminal offence to pretend you are younger than you really are online."


Mr Whippy - 29/5/08 at 08:58 AM

I'd say what a load of rubbish and I'm 190 years old today


balidey - 29/5/08 at 09:02 AM

Can't see it being true, or even really enforcable, unless the rozzers are trying to pin something like grooming on you

Oh, and many happy returns Mr Whippy


speedyxjs - 29/5/08 at 09:04 AM

Im sure iv heard that on the news or something before.


pmw - 29/5/08 at 09:06 AM

Just an odd point, and no disrespect to graememk, but why is a solicitor - with legal qualifications, asking a non-legal person about a point of law ?

Presumably he also charged you for asking you the question ??? :-)


[Edited on 29/5/08 by pmw]


Mr Whippy - 29/5/08 at 09:07 AM

quote:
Originally posted by balidey
Oh, and many happy returns Mr Whippy


Thank you, unfortunately we had a bit of a flash fire when I lit the candles, apparently it was seen from space


balidey - 29/5/08 at 09:18 AM

quote:
Originally posted by pmw
Presumably he also charged you for asking you the question ??? :-)



I asked a solicitor once 'How much will you charge me to answer three questions'
He said '£600'
I said 'Thats a bit steep isn't it?'
He replied 'No, now whats your third question?'


balidey - 29/5/08 at 09:37 AM

lets imagine it is true, does that mean someone who just says they are younger (even by accident) is them commiting a crime, and therefore must be put on the sex offenders register. I think it must be a sub-section of another law, I can't see it being a law just by itself, bit like hgv's are limited to 40mph on certain roads, out of context you can say 'the speed limit is 40mph FOR EVERYONE'.

Either the solicitor is having you on, or is perhaps quoting a small part of a law. Or maybe he's miss-informed.


vinny1275 - 29/5/08 at 09:40 AM

Shirley even our ham-fisted numpty government couldn't have left the law *that* wide open......

hang on, what am I saying? Of course they could. "look what we're doing to stop paedos getting to your kids on the internet. We'll make it illegal to lie about your age online".

They seem to think that making something illegal will stop people already breaking the existing laws (grooming kids) from breaking the new law. They're *criminals* for god's sake, they don't care about the law!! When are they going to twig to this??

To answer your question, I hadn't heard about the laws being that wide-ranging, I'd have thought that they would have to prove that you were intending to mislead children into allowing you to sexually abuse them to get you on the sex offender's charge. Having said that, they've just made it illegal to have pornographic images which contain staged violence - so staging sexual violence isn't illegal, but having pictures of it is! Genius.

Is there any country in the world which has a government with any common sense? If so, how do you apply to emigrate there?

/finished ranting now....


nathanharris1987 - 29/5/08 at 10:04 AM

i dont know about anyone else but somtimes i forget and think im 18 again?


02GF74 - 29/5/08 at 10:05 AM

quote:
Originally posted by vinny1275

Is there any country in the world which has a government with any common sense? If so, how do you apply to emigrate there?



Australia. You would best contact their embassy for more information, maybe on the web too.


ravingfool - 29/5/08 at 10:26 AM

B*ll*cks, don't believe that for a second, I could check for myself but I'm a little busy really at the moment and should be doing other legal research.

If anyone gets sufficiently wound up about it I'll check it out later.

I'm also a little confused about why he was asking you? Do you have specialist knowledge of the law in this area?!


eznfrank - 29/5/08 at 10:50 AM

If the specific question is whether it is an offence under the sex offenders act then I think the answer would be "maybe". I say maybe because from my brief scan of the act I believe it only applies to actual sex offenders - so if I pretend I'm 14 then I would not be commiting an offence, however, if someone on the sex offenders register does the same then they could be guilty of an offence.

Just for the record I have only skimmed the act so I could well be wrong. The act doesn't actually make specific reference to the internet as far as I can see.

If anyone is interested (probably not, a full copy of the act can bee seen here

[Edited on 29/5/08 by eznfrank]


ravingfool - 29/5/08 at 10:56 AM

that sounds more likely, or it could be an aggravating circumstance in a criminal activity, but certainly not a blanket condition across the general public.


graememk - 29/5/08 at 11:11 AM

it was just a passing conversation i had this morning whilst i was fixing there server


quote:
Originally posted by pmw
Just an odd point, and no disrespect to graememk, but why is a solicitor - with legal qualifications, asking a non-legal person about a point of law ?

Presumably he also charged you for asking you the question ??? :-)



[Edited on 29/5/08 by graememk]


robinj66 - 29/5/08 at 11:56 AM

I can't find reference to it as a specific offence but it could (with the necessary intent) be part of an offence under s15 & s15 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/acts2003/ukpga_20030042_en_2#pt1-pb5-l1g15

[arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence / meeting a child following sexual grooming]


trikerneil - 29/5/08 at 12:06 PM

I don't lie about my age online.

I just act 1/3 of my age offline according to my missus.

Mr Whippy - you're sussed we all know you're 237 years old



Neil


Benzine - 29/5/08 at 01:03 PM

I'm 13/f/california btw


DaveFJ - 29/5/08 at 01:40 PM

you want to see how ridiculous this is all geting... thy this link


graememk - 29/5/08 at 02:44 PM

thats why the original question came up

quote:
Originally posted by DaveFJ
you want to see how ridiculous this is all geting... thy this link


indykid - 29/5/08 at 05:53 PM

i'm a 20/F, from the UK

send me an IM and i'll make your day.

wonder if anyone'll know what that's from?
tom


Simon - 29/5/08 at 07:53 PM

quote:
Originally posted by indykid
i'm a 20/F...,

...wonder if anyone'll know what that's from?
tom


Bra size, perhaps

ATB

Simon


martyn_16v - 29/5/08 at 09:41 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Benzine
I'm 13/f/california btw


how you doin'