not sure if anyone else picked up on this, but last year the first successful criminal case was brought against a messageboard troll in the UK
it was a chap who disrupted a messageboard intended for military veterans “Forces Re-united”, and uploaded malware onto this boards “shared files” section.
The penalty was fairly minor (60 hours community service) + £520 fine – OTOH he would certainly have had his personal IT equipment confiscated and examined, should he not pay the fine he is at risk of going to prison for non payment and the penalty is not a caution but a full criminal conviction which affects future job prospects in an increasingly competitive world – and the freedom to travel to certain countries!
The force who led the investigation was Wiltshire Police – they come across as fairly pro-active on internet crime (they even have an account here, which they use to warn off free party crews in their counties – I have checked it and it is for real…)
Whilst I don’t think any party boards would willingly grass up a troll to the old bill, there is a practice on SJ of trolling other boards (including some run by serving regular or special cops).
I’ve also seen warnings on messageboards which warn would-be trolls that they will notify cops, and even employers (if the traffic comes from a work account) of any disruptive activities – and even if admins don’t call the old bill and just get their suppliers involved, some ISPs and hosting companies are perfectly happy to work with Police forces (some of whom may not necessarily be in the UK) as “good corporate citizens”
although much of this thankfully is not a big threat to this board, some people have the same screennames on many different boards, and a notorious troll is bound nowadays to attract reprisal action from the people whose boards they have disrupted…
