Part II Provision of Telecommunication Services

Offences

43 Improper use of public telecommunication system.

F1(1)

A person who—

(a)

sends, by means of a public telecommunication system, a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or

(b)

sends by those means, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, a message that he knows to be false or persistently makes use for that purpose of a public telecommunication system,

shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to F2imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or both.

(2)

Subsection (1) above does not apply to anything done in the course of providing a F3programme service (within the meaning of the Broadcasting Act 1990).