Editorial: Dark side of the net shows

Sarina Anderton says she has been falsely accused of "out of control road rage''.

Facebook is a highlights reel of our lives.

Most posts consist of holiday snaps, smiling faces, family celebrations and trips overseas with a few inspirational quotes thrown in.

This carefully manufactured snapshot of our lives bears little resemblance to the routine happenings of our daily lives.

Social networking sites might be present a summery alternate reality most of the time but they also have a dark edge. The sites provide a platform where some, emboldened by a sense of anonymity, attack others.

Yesterday, the Bay of Plenty Times reported that Tauranga motorists were being accused of bad driving on a Facebook name and shame page.

The page, Tauranga Bad Drivers Name And Shame Them, allows people to send the administrator anonymous messages about so-called bad drivers.

A 22-year-old man spoke out after he found out that someone was claiming he was seen doing 150km/h in a 50km zone.

"This page is fake, I didn't go 150km in a 50km zone, that's stupid," he said.

The administrator posted that another Bay resident, Sarina Anderton, had "out-of-control road rage" after her partner wrote to the administrator as a prank.

Tauranga police are aware of the page. NetSafe says there is not much the named and shamed can do to stop things being posted because Facebook is an advocate for freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech is fundamental to any democracy but making defamatory allegations about people with no evidence to back up the statements is simply wrong.

While Facebook might be reluctant to bring the administrators of these pages into line, lawyer James Dunne says from a legal standpoint they could be sued for defamation.

The reality is that many people could not afford to pursue such a course of action.

However, it costs nothing to speak out and the two young people who voiced their concern this week have done the right thing by taking a stand.