Dr. Mary Aiken:

We are not just talking about points of law. We are talking about human behaviour, developmental aspects and a scale of escalation. If we do not tackle the pipeline - the beginning of the scale - the lesser offences will escalate over time. In this room, have members, as public figures, anecdotally noticed an escalation in the abuse they receive online on public platforms or has the abuse remained static or diminished over time? Arguably, there has been an escalation because there are no consequences for this cyber-feral behaviour in cyberspace, this psychologically powerful immersive space. There is the minimisation of status and authority online. In his 2004 work, Suler argues that people are disinhibited in this space. We have to address a spectrum, from activities that are not deemed to be as severe - maybe entry into cyberbullying type behaviour - through to extreme harassment and threats because it is an exponential spectrum of behaviour that will escalate over time if we do not put some form of sanctions in place.