Charges considered for degrading Facebook list

Photo / Daily Post

Australian police are considering charging the author of a Facebook page which lists and names women as "100 Biggest Sluts of Ballarat".

Victoria police spokeswoman Karolyn Formosa yesterday said one person had been interviewed about the page but charges had yet to be laid.

It is believed the page's creator, who has not been named, could face as many as 100 stalking charges, one for each name on the list.

The Facebook page, which has been removed, made derogatory comments about Ballarat women and girls as young as 14.

It was brought to the attention of Ballarat police last week after a woman made a formal complaint.

Ms Formosa said police had contacted 60 of the women listed on the site, but said investigators were calling for anyone else who had been affected to come forward.

Detective Sergeant Craig Dooley, who is investigating the case, said: "Stalking covers quite a large range of actions and one of them is using the computer to offend or harass a particular person.

"So for each person on the actual site, that's a charge, so if we get 100 victims, it'll be 100 charges of stalking."

Associate Professor Jeremy Gans of the Melbourne University law school said the case showed stalking did not always mean following someone in the street.

"There's a huge list of ways you can stalk someone. It's not the page that's illegal. It's the conduct," he told the Age newspaper.

He said there were specific legal provisions about publishing online a statement or other material relating to someone that caused fear.

- Staff reporter, additional reporting AFP