Posts by Stephen Glynn

Cyberstalker caught after months on the run

Special law?

What special law or special treatment is this, then? The relevant law is the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, which prohibits

'a course of conduct-

(a) which amounts to harassment of another, and

(b) which [the defendant] knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other.

For the purposes of this section, the person whose course of conduct is in question ought to know that it amounts to harassment of another if a reasonable person in possession of the same information would think the course of conduct amounted to harassment of the other.'

Nothing special about it. It's used all the time to protect people from cranks, bullies and stalkers.

Avoiding the 'rogue power user' problem

Importance of training

It's not quite the same problem as the one you describe, but I think a lot of businesses suffer failing properly to train their staff -- what's the need? Everyone knows how to use Word and Excel, don't they? -- with the result that someone in the office who knows a bit (but not very much) more about how to use the application than does everyone else gets elected as de facto 'power user' to whom everyone else turns for advice.

This has two drawbacks. First, it means she can't concentrate on the job she's actually paid to do because she's trying to answer everyone else's questions; and, second, her solutions -- which everyone else adopts -- aren't usually particularly good ones.