Social networks have become a fundamental part of our lives

Social networks have become a fundamental part of our lives. Many users use services such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, among many others, on a regular basis, where they share and enjoy their own experiences and friends in the most healthy way possible. However, the unstoppable growth of this type of service has caused many malicious users to have found anonymity that offer a perfect opportunity to attack and harm , protected by the lack of protocols that regulate the behavioral limits in networks .

Unfortunately, acts of hate on social networks are becoming more commonplace. Who does not remember the insults that the bullfighter Victor Barrio received after his death? Or, more recently, the lack of respect after the death of Bimba Bosé ? And they are not the only actions out of place in the networks, as we also remember the videos of criminal acts like that of the driver who took his car from the passenger seat or that young man who knocked down a young woman with a kick in full Avenida Diagonal of Barcelona. Who is responsible for prosecuting these cases?
Silvia Barrera is one of the people that watches over our security in the networks. Inspector of the National Police , with many years of experience in the Technological Research Unit and five years as head of the group of networks, has dealt with some of the most known cases of recent years in our country. Through his book 'Keys to research in social networks' , Barrera explains how networks affect users' privacy , the measures we can take to protect ourselves, the dangers to which we expose ourselves, and even how the Police investigations.
"The networks offer us many advantages, but there are also dangers," confers Barrera to El Confidencial. The problems come when the user "does not understand that there are limits that he can not cross", believing that he has total impunity to make any kind of comment or action, curiously in the same way that he understands that those same actions can not perform them in the street. The problem is the lack of legislation or a protocol to criminalize: "There are important legal difficulties, legal gaps and lack of attention" by the leaders, which complicate the work of the authorities.

"The prosecutor's office still does not know where to shoot. There should be limits between what is freedom of expression and what is a crime," he confesses, which would allow more legal weapons against those who trespass. And is that the networks are no longer a speaker with a lot of power, that can send a comment or behavior to the other side of the planet. In the opinion of Barrera herself, one of the "successful cases" that managed to get ahead was the Barcelona kick. The important diffusion of the networks is what allowed the crime to be much more serious.
It happened in 2015, when a young man from Talavera was recorded by a friend while beating with a brutal kick to a girl who was next to another on the sidewalk. "This case would have remained anonymous, in one more aggression. However, the fact of recording it and uploading it to social networks becomes 6 years in prison and 45,000 euros penalty," he says. "People should be aware of the consequences that can have a video of these characteristics," adds Barrera who, despite this, understands that the lack of legal basis allows many other cases to go unpunished.

* Video: The brutal kick of Barcelona
The cases of harassment, the hardest
"Worst of all is that there does not seem to be movement to create a protocol in the networks," he says. "There are many cases that have made me feel very bad, especially those that have to do with harassment," says Barrera. "It has even happened that the main suspect has admitted to being the culprit, but the case ends up being closed because the law to be applied at the time of judging him so determined. Other times, some users commit very serious crimes, but erase their Profiles and the problem is canceled, protected by the advantages offered by the law, "visibly annoying.
Increasingly, social networks have become a place where insults , outbursts and attacks are more common, but legislation continues to light years of finding a solution in which any user can protect, beyond The decisions made by each judge, based on their own criteria. "For example, almost all comments against the dead end up on file," he says. There is still a lot to work for in Spain, where Silvia Barrera continues day by day trying to end the injustices in the networks. The case of the young man from Barcelona is undoubtedly his greatest example.