Before her appearance in the House of Commons to call for a law against catfishing last week, Labour MP wrote an op-ed for The Times detailing her views on the matter.
Coffey wants a law that would would make it an offence to steal someone’s identity and pose as them online to lure people into sexual contact.
As the Labour MP for Stockport explains in The Times, she is pushing for this law after hearing about the experiences of one of her constituents, male model Matt Peacock.
Coffey explains: “At the moment there is no specific law against stealing another person’s identity. That must change. We need a new law to make it crystal clear that if someone takes another person’s identity and poses as them online then they are committing an offence.
“The government’s new digital charter and the green paper on internet safety is an opportunity to arrive at agreement with companies about how to make safer online sites.
“It gives a chance for a real partnership between legislators and technology to be developed to protect users from aggressive and harmful predators and for subsequent legislation to outlaw catfishing.”
Read the article here.