Several years ago, the United Kingdom noticed a disturbing pastime among a segment of its youths - "happy slapping". Individuals or groups found amusing the slapping or striking of strangers while accomplices filmed the assaults using mobile phones. The images were later showcased on the Internet. In recent years, the "happy slapping" virus has spread into France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, among other European countries. And governments have had enough of this cruel and sometimes lethal form of entertainment.
The United Kingdom and Spain have sentenced individuals to prison for assaults that have ended in deaths. Italy investigated an Internet company that hosted a "happy slapping" video. And France recently approved a law enabling courts to sentence individuals, other than professional journalists, who film and distribute violent images online to up to five years in prison and € 75,000 in fines. The French law has been criticized by organizations that seek to protect freedom of expression, claiming it will prevent citizens from denouncing police brutality. French government officials have emphasized the amendment has been adopted to simply counteract the "happy slapping" practice. Countries have also banned mobile phones from schools and taken anti-bullying measures.
A quick online survey demonstrates the gravity of the situation. In the UK, hundreds of "happy slapping" incidents have been reported, including the case of a 37-year-old terrorism survivor who was brutally attacked by a gang on a "happy slapping" rampage, while sitting with friends in a pub. He later died from his injuries. In Spain, a friend of upper middle-class youths, who killed a homeless woman in a Barcelona ATM, says they had previously shown others aggressions against homeless individuals, recorded on mobile phones. Parents of children at a posh Madrid school were shocked when the national news aired mobile-phone video of a kid being repeatedly beaten by classmates. In France, school-aged youths took and distributed photos of classmates engaged in a gang rape in the southeastern city of Nice and clashes with police during recent banlieue riots.
Other alarming incidents involved teenagers jumping in front of heavy traffic in the seaside Spanish city of Benidorm, while accomplices filmed the deranged behavior and subsequent car accidents. Spanish police say it also included the recording and online distribution of footage of intentional forest fires that razed parts of the northwestern region of Galicia. The list of "happy slapping" incidents in Europe is extensive.
"Happy slapping," meanwhile, has repercussions on third parties. Last year, a "happy slapping" case affected Google representatives when a video of Italian teenagers harassing an autistic classmate in the northwestern city of Turin was uploaded into its video site. Google Video bans the uploading of violent content and eliminates such content from the site when users fail to respect the policy. In this case, the company did not notice the presence of the video until Italian authorities accused representatives for failing to check the content of the video posted. While US law reportedly treats Google simply as a distributor of information, public officials in Europe are demanding the same editorial responsibility required of TV and newspapers.