Dear Editor,
I am concerned about the lack of internet policing by Guyana’s law enforcement.
I am currently studying at York University, and I find it very hard to concentrate on my studies knowing that every time I go online, some shady individuals are harassing me on Facebook claiming that I have ties with Guyanese drug lords. These accusations are false, yet these anonymous individuals are free to parade their propaganda online without consequence. The anonymous people opened fictitious Facebook accounts in the names of well-known people in Guyana.
Also, my sister was wrongfully targeted by the Propaganda Press a few months ago. The Propaganda Press wordpress website claimed that they were threatened by her. A private detective found out that someone used my sister’s email to send provoking messages to the Propaganda Press.
I believe that myself family are being targeted because of our relation to a known accountant in Georgetown, Guyana. The accountant is also faced with lies, slander and accusations on the internet because he is friends with an accountant who is also a lawyer. This other accountant is constantly ridiculed by the PPP/C government, and I have been aware that his family in the USA are also victimized online.
Do these anonymous cyber-criminals know the effects that internet bullying and slander have on an individual? I have become depressed knowing that the York Regional Police are unable to prosecute the cyber criminals because they are not within their jurisdiction.
This brings me to the question of what the present PPP/C government’s initiative is in relation to cyber laws. I think that they don’t have an interest in cyber laws because they tolerate those involved in cyber criminality.
I want to make it clear that any slander or libel on the internet about me, my family, or the two accountants are false and constitute mischief.
If the PPP/C government changes its ways and enforces cyber laws to control internet users, then I believe Guyanese will be more than prepared to accept those cyber laws.
Yours faithfully,
Julianna Persaud
