...if anyone has been done under this yet
Improper use of postal and electronic communications
Improper use of public electronic communications network -
Communications Act 2003, section 127
The Communications Act 2003 section 127 covers the sending of improper messages.
Section 127(1)(a) relates to a message etc that is grossly offensive or of an
indecent, obscene or
menacing character and should be used for indecent phone
calls and emails.
Section 127(2) targets false messages and persistent misuse
intended to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety; it includes
somebody who persistently makes silent phone calls (usually covered with only
one information because the gravamen is one of persistently telephoning
rendering separate charges for each call unnecessary).
If a message sent is grossly offensive, indecent, obscene,
menacing or false it
is irrelevant whether it was received.
The offence is one of sending, so it is
committed when the sending takes place. The test for "grossly offensive" was
stated by the House of Lords in DPP v Collins [2006] 1 WLR 2223 to be whether
the message would cause gross offence to those to whom it relates (in that case
ethnic minorities), who need not be the recipients. The case also said that it
is justifiable under ECHR Article 10(2) to prosecute somebody who has used the
public telecommunications system to leave racist messages.
A person guilty of an offence under section 127 CA 2003 shall be liable, on
summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a
fine or to both. This offence is part of the fixed penalty scheme.
Section 127 can be used as an alternative offence to such crimes for example as
hate crime (including race, religion,
disability, homophobic, sexual
orientation, and transphobic crime), hacking offences, cyber bullying, cyber
stalking, amongst others.
See
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/a_to_c/communications_offences/
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