Sian Philipps

Violinist & campaigner for women's rights, online regulation & against homelessness

In 2011 Sian Philipps was stalked in Vienna where she lived and was forced to leave. Even after her arrival in the UK the harassment continued online. She received threatening  emails (in breach of the restraining order she had obtained) and was horrified to find malicious and impersonatory blogs appearing which masqueraded as her professional online presence using her CV and photos and maligning others she worked with.

Having fled the country where the restraining order was issued she encountered a jurisdictory labyrinth. She was told that only the country where he had posted the material had jurisdiction and despite an Interpol notice nobody appeared to know where he was. Facebook was prompt to remove the "fake" pages but Google refused until a year later when her MP intervened and they changed the algorithms. This had the added unwanted effect of removing all her achievements and genuine information from searches.

A policeman told her that "Google had more money than China and more power than America" and there was no legal aid or advice forthcoming. It was only a journalist who threatened to publish the stalker's identity if he continued that helped it to stop. Sian felt the police did not take her reports seriously and endured misogynistic treatment at the hands of the law and others.

Since this time Sian has campaigned for stricter online laws and is disappointed at the progress made by the government.

She has spoken of her experiences at Henley Business School's JMCR conference on reputation.

She will introduce this concert in celebration of International Women's Day and with a retiring collection in support of St Martin's Housing Trust.

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