Criminal or Piss-poor joker?

[furie]

Have a read of this:
http://jackofkent.blogspot.com/2010/05/ ... d-bad.html

For those too lazy:

Paul Chambers posted a "joke" Tweet to his followers saying this:
"Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You've got a week... otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!"

Somebody forwarded it on the East Midlands Airport, who then got South Yorkshire police involved.

Today, Paul was convicted under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003. He was fined £1000 and now has a criminal record, which means his career has been destroyed (he was training to become a qualified accountant, which you can't be if you have a criminal record). He was lucky to avoid jail.

Essentially, this section (this is the first time anyone has been prosecuted under it) says that if you make a comment of a publicly accessible network that is obscene, (grossly) offensive, or threatening you can be found guilty.

The CPS decided that Paul was guilty of being threatening in his Tweet, despite the fact it was only initially broadcast to people he knew.

I find it pretty concerning that this kind of thing probably makes each of us criminals. Who here hasn't made a joke on-line that could be construed this way?

Add this to the Digital Economy Bill and there's a chance here for the CPS to make most people in the country a criminal. If you thought speed cameras where a get rich quick scheme???

Of course, there's a degree of paranoia over this, but it's quite scary how a stupid, almost private crap joke can net you a criminal record.

Anyone here feel so free now to make jokes on-line??? What do you reckon? Did he deserve it?

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Says a lot about the modern world when something you say as a joke gets turned into something completely different by that one person who finds it offensive...

Not a great joke mind... Especially in the current climate...

 

[kimahri]

Meh, could be worse.

 

[nealbie]

If only he'd used an emoticon.... :roll:

 

[Dave]

Hardly think it would...

Al Qeda tweets: "Death to the West, lol "

 

[nealbie]

Precisely! You get the idea

 

[Snoo]

We see worse on CF.. :lol:

 

[Ian]

Christ, with some of my tweets, somebody might think I'm a Nazi-sympathising, alcoholic homophobe...

It's a shame when people cant' take a joke.

He's not a criminal and the only joke here is the CPS. He's not even a extremist Muslim FFS!

Goodbye internet world, it's be so/so knowing you!

 

[ciallkennett]

It's silly, but I can see why action was taken, even if it was a bit over-the-top. In this age, it's hard to see what is a genuine threat or just a joke. What is people shrugged it off as a joke and he actually did it? Then we would be having a different conversation...

But yeah, I will rape you and all of your children.

 

[tks]

Don't be too surprised if we start getting all our internet traffic monitored soon in the interests of "national security".

 

[Ben]

Anyone else notice this...

He threatened Robin Hood airport, but the moron contacted East Midlands airport... Presumably because that's just outside Nottingham...

Yeah, someone needs to pay more attention to Rhod Gilbert...

 

[Slayed]

Meh, could be worse.

Only if they'd locked him up - he's now lost his job!

The implications to civil liberties are staggering - again, thanks to rubbish laws passed by the last government, we lose even more freedom of speech (like I've said before, the same government tried to make jokes about religion illegal).

This was *meant* to protect telephone workers from abuse - it was the last government that widened it to cover anyone, in a weak and loose fashion.

But it's also the fault of the judges being idiots - they're the ones applying the law.

FYI, here's the law - as of yesterday, nothing you Tweet can be like this, and theoretically nothing you post either. Welcome to the Thought Police!

127 Improper use of public electronic communications network

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he—

(a) sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or

(b) causes any such message or matter to be so sent.

 

[gavin]

^That's my Facebook statuses f@cked then!

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

(a) sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or

Oh **** off...

 

[peep]

That has to be one of the most stupid laws ever.

Probably a petition being set up somewhere already to stop this madness.

 

[furie]

There was probably a petition at the time.

Like the Digital Economy bill, this law was spotted and complained about by people like Slayed (industry professionals, consultants, etc) as being open to abuse.

The thing is, it's complained about in professional circles of the industries who understand the implications. We may make mention of it on places like here, but most people shrug it off.

"It's a silly law, but what can you do eh? It's the government for you".

It's only when something like this comes to light that it actually hits home how bad these laws actually can be. They have stepped out of the area they are meant to control and are being used outside their original remit, just as was predicted - and NOT for protecting anyone.

Ciall, remember, this was a Tweet. The guy isn't a public figure, he's just like you or me. It was a crap joke, but he didn't direct it at an agency that should be concerned. That's why he wasn't done under the bomb hoax law - it wasn't a bomb hoax. They just chased him down and did him for being threatening... Though he was never directly threatening.

The idea of this topic really was to make people aware of the absurd outcome, but also to try and make people pay a little more attention to some of the things you hear about being complained about - but ignore as "not affecting you"... If somebody in the know is saying to the government "you're doing it wrong", listen to the person who knows his stuff, not the politician making it up as he goes along