Calling lawyers and data protection gurus

[MsBeaujangles]

What is the legal situation when it comes to being placed on a published list which is claimed to be a list of 'TERFs and transphobes'?
I am thinking defamation of character comes in to play if the suggestion is that the people on the list are bigoted, incite hate and deny trans people their rights. I am on such a list and am confident that I have not said anything remotely even 'anti trans'.
I think sending Cease and Desist letters could legitimately be sent, demanding the list holder immediately cease and desist their unlawful defamation and provide prompt written reassurance within 10 days they they will cease and desist from further defamation.
Whilst the list is of Twitter names, my account is not anonymous.

Also, is there anything preventing people from applying defamation law when they are very publicly called transphobic?

Wiggly I will pm you .

I'm bumping this thread following a recent post by leyat
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3258983-Miranda-Yardley-permanently-banned-from-Twitter?watched=1&msgid=78135322#78135322

Do recent changes to data protection & GDPR have any bearing on issues regarding use of mass 'terf' block lists?

Its not my expertise , but if you know of any list that describes you in defamitary terms you might have some recourse under

The GDPR 2016 that came into effect midnight last night , would imagine you might have redress to the ICO check with them first

however if your alias on here or elsewhere is TERF something , you might be on a sticky ground because that is how you are choosing to describe yourself !

but remember this is a new piece of legislation , please think carefully before posting

perhaps MHGCHQ Lawyers would be better placed to advise you

CircleSquare That's how I was put on the list (before I was even fully aware of the issues).

I liked a tweet by a trans person explaining why they were opposed to self-id, I wanted to be able to find it later as I hadn't heard that viewpoint before. So I liked it and then some TRA popped up in the thread and said thank you to the Tweeter for helping them find transphobes to block and then this person added everyone who'd liked the tweet to TERFBlocker, including me.

(I'm now using moments to bookmark tweets I find interesting but as I'm also someone who used Twitter before liking became a thing, I still tend to use the heart to bookmark quite automatically.)

As I used my real name on Twitter I found it quite worrying too. Enough that I've now changed it to something that doesn't identify me but unless I delete all of my tweets all someone would need to find me would be a lot of patience...

P.S. I sometimes encounter people whose views confuse/interest/upset/intrigue me enough that I want to know more. On social media I can look through their timeline and I've found that once you go back enough years almost all of us give something away eventually. I don't use it, of course, but I've often thought if it wouldn't come across wrong I'd love to advise those people to purge the old stuff. (This is an issue particularly with young adults who started posting as teens.)

Not sure what Twitter terms and conditions are but this seems a bit like the domestic purposes type bit of data protection law that means you don't have redress under data protection law to prevent it. More like defamation or similar.
If the list is being used by a legal person like a company or charity or political party, that is different.

Very bizarrely, Cathy Newman is on the Lily Madigan block list. You know, the Cathy Newman who presented genderquake and made it abundantly clear that she is more or less completely uncritical of transactivist ideology.

@helicobactercopter Cathy Newman is on the Lily Madigan block list. You know, the Cathy Newman who presented genderquake

She allowed debate to happen and therefore broke the "TRAs must never be challenged" rule of capitulation allyship.

I'm a long term user on here, but name changed so as not to link my profiles...

Just been "attacked" on another forum, where myself and another longterm user where having a very civilised discussion, despite our very differing views.

www.ukclimbing.com/forums/off_belay/transgender_discussion_bbc_r2-685650

(Post at 18:18 Fri 25th)

Think I may be about to make it on to the a TERF blacklist!!!
Should I feel vulnerable or just ignore them like the bully they are?

Mumsnet: Really intelligent and well informed?

Mumsnet wasn't bad until the TERFs utilised it to spread hate. In much the same way, SAF is hoping to do on UKC.

For those of you who would like to do more than just bolster your own ignorance, try this:

Sorry that happened to you namechanged btw, it seemed like a good discussion up until that point!

Can you flag their post for targeted harassment?

Ereshkigal
I have already done that, just waiting on a reply, not sure how quick it will be...sunny bank holiday weekend & climbers might make it a low priority!

I'm not a lawyer but I work in IT and have attended numerous seminars on GDPR over the last few months. I would say that the list certainly could be considered as personal data. Anything that could identify you is personal data. GDPR is very different from the old data protection legislation in that it specifically includes social media which the old legislation didn't. It is also different in that you have to prove you are compliant rather than it having to be proved that you are none compliant. However, it does not apply to individuals and so if LM is acting as an individual then I don't think that LM could be in breach of GDPR. Because LM is a member of the Labour Party in an official capacity then that could be a grey area which only the ICO and lawyers could unpick.

Only if it is an official Labour Party list or a registered charity list can it be challenged in any way under GDPR.

There has also been discussion about possible involvement with the mass 'terf' blocks by a representative of The Green Party.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3212198-Green-Party-equalities-spokesperson-has-Twitter-blocklist-of-50-000

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3209207-Green-Party-blocking-30-000-women-on-twitter

I'm pretty sure that the original Labour Against Transphobia FB group was in breach of the DPA as they allegedly published Labour membership numbers at first. And the fines would just go up under GDPR.

But yes block lists are a bit of a grey area I think.

I have a feeling that at some point LM stated they should no longer be called 'TERF' lists but lists of 'transphobes'.