Wikimedia Meta-Wiki

Training modules/Dealing with online harassment/slides/legal-advice

< Training modules | Dealing with online harassment
Translate this page
Other languages:
edit

If you handle harassment cases, you will almost certainly eventually encounter one in which legal concerns come up. Perhaps a target will want to know if they can issue a DMCA to force another website to take down images of them; perhaps the harassment someone reports to you will be in the form of "I will sue you" legal threats; perhaps a target will ask whether they should pursue legal action against the harasser.

As with mental health issues, it can be tempting to offer a victim with legal questions or needs whatever level of advice you feel you can. Please don't. Why? Many of the reasons are similar to the reasons you should not offer mental health counseling:

  • Boundaries: see mental health counseling
  • Not dividing your energy: see mental health counseling
  • Best interests of the target or reporter: Though giving poor legal advice is less likely to lead to physical harm than giving poor mental health counseling, the damage it can do is nonetheless significant. Being given incorrect legal advice could lead them to take (or not take) legal actions that are not easily reversible; it could even lead to a target putting themselves in a situation where a harasser has grounds to file a legal case against their target.
  • Liability: In some countries, including the United States, it is illegal to carry out the unauthorized practice of law, which includes activities like "providing information about what actions to take or giving advice to someone that is specifically tailored to an individual's unique situation, under the guise of being a lawyer or person experienced in the law." Breaking laws of this type puts you in legal jeopardy of your own – you could be fined or imprisoned.

If someone involved in a harassment case asks for legal advice, you should explain to them that you cannot offer advice of that type. If you know of a resource that can connect targets to qualified legal assistance, you may wish to offer it, but you are not obligated to do so and if you are uncomfortable for any reason, you may choose to simply explain to the target that you cannot provide such assistance. Linked below are two resources that allow a target to search for legal aid by area, crime type, and other requirements:

Retrieved from "https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Training_modules/Dealing_with_online_harassment/slides/legal-advice&oldid=26366293"