You can goto JAIL for posting on FACEBOOK or TWITTER

[amandadun]

Did you guys know, that this isen't the first time this has happeend? This article is from the U.K, but It's happened in America too. Because one posts the wrong thing on Facebook or Twitter -- people have actually gone to JAIL FOR IT! In this case -- it was because of a racist remark. Right or wrong, the notion that they can JAIL YOU, is CRAZY!

A student who admitted posting racially offensive comments on Twitter about footballer Fabrice Muamba has been jailed for 56 days.

Swansea University student Liam Stacey, 21, from Pontypridd, admitted inciting racial hatred over remarks about the Bolton Wanderers player, who collapsed during a FA Cup tie at Tottenham.

A district judge in Swansea called the comments "vile and abhorrent".

Muamba, 23, who suffered a cardiac arrest, is still in intensive care.

Sentencing Stacey at Swansea Magistrates' Court, District Judge John Charles told him: "In my view, there is no alternative to an immediate prison sentence.

Im wanting to get everyone elses take on this, tyrannical governments around the world and how quickly things are becoming like A Brave New World or 1984.

 

[Incariol]

Did you guys know, that this isen't the first time this has happeend? This article is from the U.K, but It's happened in America too. Because one posts the wrong thing on Facebook or Twitter -- people have actually gone to JAIL FOR IT! In this case -- it was because of a racist remark. Right or wrong, the notion that they can JAIL YOU, is CRAZY!



Im wanting to get everyone elses take on this, tyrannical governments around the world and how quickly things are becoming like A Brave New World or 1984.

How is this tyrannical? We've never had the right to say literally anything we wanted anyways. This isn't anything new by a long shot.

 

[Notedstrangeperson]

Yeah, actually charging and sentencing the guy was completely pointless. Even giving him a fine would have been pointless - let alone putting him in jail.

If we imprisoned everyone who wrote a racist comment then everyone on Stormfront, Xbox Live and half of Youtube would be in jail. And if we imprisoned everyone who wrote something stupid or offensive on the internet in jail then the internet wouldn't exist.

 

[Incariol]

Yeah, actually charging and sentencing the guy was completely pointless. Even giving him a fine would have been pointless - let alone putting him in jail.

If we imprisoned everyone who wrote a racist comment then everyone on Stormfront, Xbox Live and half of Youtube would be in jail. And if we imprisoned everyone who wrote something stupid or offensive on the internet in jail then the internet wouldn't exist.

I think the key difference here is that this person was convicted of "inciting racial hatreds", which is somewhat more serious than someone just making a dumb, racist remark.

Of course, the OP didn't bother posting a link so we don't have any real idea what is going on.

 

[athenken]

This is setting a bad precedent, or possibly a good one, depending on how you look at it. Jailing anyone who makes a derogatory comment about someone else having the potential for jail time would seriously limit, if not elliminate, the likelyhood of someone saying these types of stupid things on the internet, much less anywhere else. Of course we have no idea where the line would be drawn, which alludes to the tyrrany that the OP mentioned.

What kind of society would you want to live in? One where you are able to say anything you want about another person without fear of repurcussion, or one where everything you write or say is scrutinized, even for perceived intent, with the possibility of being prosecuted for it?

 

[Notedstrangeperson]

I think the key difference here is that this person was convicted of "inciting racial hatreds", which is somewhat more serious than someone just making a dumb, racist remark.

Of course, the OP didn't bother posting a link so we don't have any real idea what is going on.

The original twitter post was "LOL F*** Muamba. He's dead!!!" This was apparently followed by other, explicitly racist comments but I haven't been able to find them. What he said was pretty stupid and insensitive, but I'm sure if I had the time I could find you literally a thousand equally stupid and bigoted quotes about one subject or another.

On a side-note, a little while ago down in the Politics forum (here), someone asked whether we should allow forums like Stormfront to exist. I think the general consensus was yes, because censoring them would impinge on free speech.

Doesn't it seem odd that it's alright to imprison a single person for saying something racist, but we can't shut down a white nationalist website because it would violate their right to free speech?

 

[Cromulent]

If you're inciting racial hatred, yes, you should go to jail. I don't subscribe to the notion that we should blindly worship freedom of speech. You should be free to hold your own opinions and to express them, but you shouldn't be able to hide behind "freedom of speech" to threaten, abuse, harrass, intimidate or demonise.

 

[Incariol]

The original twitter post was "LOL F*** Muamba. He's dead!!!" This was apparently followed by other, explicitly racist comments but I haven't been able to find them. What he said was pretty stupid and insensitive, but I'm sure if I had the time I could find you literally a thousand equally stupid and bigoted quotes about one subject or another.

On a side-note, a little while ago down in the Politics forum (here), someone asked whether we should allow forums like Stormfront to exist. I think the general consensus was yes, because censoring them would impinge on free speech.

Doesn't it seem odd that it's alright to imprison a single person for saying something racist, but we can't shut down a white nationalist website because it would violate their right to free speech?

Yes, well, as I said it's hard to make an informed opinion without knowing what this person actually said. I think that while making stupid racist remarks might be legally tolerable, "inciting" may not be. Even in the U.S. inciting is often not legally protected free speech, and the U.K. tends to be a lot stricter about those sort of things.

On one hand,

"[Race here] is stupid and have small brains!"

On the other,

(to a crowd of screaming fanatics) "[Race here] is stupid and have small brains! You should hate/lynch/harass them."

 

[Notedstrangeperson]

I think that while making stupid racist remarks might be legally tolerable, "inciting" may not be. Even in the U.S. inciting is often not legally protected free speech, and the U.K. tends to be a lot stricter about those sort of things.

I'm not sure whether Liam Stacey was actually inciting racial hatred or whether he was simply mouthing off. Probably the latter. Even so, being a twit shouldn't be punishable by imprisonment.

[EDIT] The UK can be, erm, "tolerant" when it wants to. One of the biggest complaints you'll find in UK newspapers is that Islamist hate-preacher Abu Quatada lives off taxpayers' money.

If you're inciting racial hatred, yes, you should go to jail. I don't subscribe to the notion that we should blindly worship freedom of speech. You should be free to hold your own opinions and to express them, but you shouldn't be able to hide behind "freedom of speech" to threaten, abuse, harrass, intimidate or demonise.

Sorry to repeat myself, but why do we punish one man for writing something stupid while forums like Stormfront are allowed to exist?

 

[Incariol]

I'm not sure whether Liam Stacey was actually inciting racial hatred or whether he was simply mouthing off. Probably the latter. Even so, being a twit shouldn't be punishable by imprisonment.

Um, he was convicted of the former, so I'm pretty sure it's reasonable to say that's what happened.

[EDIT] The UK can be, erm, "tolerant" when it wants to. One of the biggest complaints you'll find in UK newspapers is that Islamist hate-preacher Abu Quatada lives off taxpayers' money.

Ok. I didn't say it couldn't.

Sorry to repeat myself, but why do we punish one man for writing something stupid while forums like Stormfront are allowed to exist?

Because Stormfront doesn't have a fraction of the visibility of Facebook. You could always email the prosecutor and ask. I would imagine the response would either be a.) some convoluted explanation of jurisdiction and ISP subpoenas and so on and/or b.) that the vast majority of the public hasn't heard of Stormfront and it isn't even on our radar compared to someone getting thousands of hits on Facebook as he calls for the mass lynching of racial minorities.

 

[Notedstrangeperson]

Because Stormfront doesn't have a fraction of the visibility of Facebook. You could always email the prosecutor and ask. I would imagine the response would either be a.) some convoluted explanation of jurisdiction and ISP subpoenas and so on and/or b.) that the vast majority of the public hasn't heard of Stormfront and it isn't even on our radar compared to someone getting thousands of hits on Facebook as he calls for the mass lynching of racial minorities.

So we shouldn't bother shutting down sits like Stormfront because there are too many of them - it's easier to arrest just one person?

Makes sense I guess. If only Liam had several hundreds to back him up.

 

[Incariol]

So we shouldn't bother shutting down sits like Stormfront because there are too many of them - it's easier to arrest just one person?

Makes sense I guess. If only Liam had several hundreds to back him up.

I don't know. If you really care so much, why don't you ask? Contact The Crown Prosecution Service : The CPS

 

[keith99]

...
Because Stormfront doesn't have a fraction of the visibility of Facebook. You could always email the prosecutor and ask. I would imagine the response would either be a.) some convoluted explanation of jurisdiction and ISP subpoenas and so on and/or b.) that the vast majority of the public hasn't heard of Stormfront and it isn't even on our radar compared to someone getting thousands of hits on Facebook as he calls for the mass lynching of racial minorities.

Are you serious, or is this a bit of dry British humor?

 

[Incariol]

Are you serious, or is this a bit of dry British humor?

No, it's totally serious. Haven't I ever told you that the U.S. flag in my profile is a lie and I'm really a Crown Prosecutor?

 

[Notedstrangeperson]

Quickly looked it up: Liam Stacy was technically not arrested for inciting racial hatred. He was arrested for "racial aggravation" or "Racially Aggravated (Section 4A Public order Act 1986)" to be specific (link).

That basically means he made "Threats made towards innocent bystanders or individuals carrying out public service duties" (link). That same category also includes brawling, throwing things at people during a demonstration and unprovoked assaults on an individual by a gang.


BTW Here are the actual tweets he posted (Caution: bad language ... obviously. )

 

[Incariol]

Quickly looked it up: Liam Stacy was technically not arrested for inciting racial hatred. He was arrested for "racial aggravation" or "Racially Aggravated (Section 4A Public order Act 1986)" to be specific (link).

That basically means he made "Threats made towards innocent bystanders or individuals carrying out public service duties" (link). That same category also includes brawling, throwing things at people during a demonstration and unprovoked assaults on an individual by a gang.

BTW Here are the actual tweets he posted (Caution: bad language ... obviously. )

Oh, well unless that means he was threatening a cops or something, that seems a little frivolous

 

[Jade Margery]

Y'know, his tweets are obviously obnoxious and offensive, but really nothing out of the ordinary for the internet--or for a drunken frat party. He wasn't calling for anyone to be hurt. Yeah, he's showing remarkably poor taste and showing his true colors as a detestable excuse for a human being, but neither of those things are against the law. I don't think jail time makes sense at all and I can't fathom what the judge was thinking.

 

[wanderingone]

This isn't a new idea, google "arrested for making threats on facebook", it seems to make the news most when its related to school children threatening their school and/or fellow students.

In terms of places like Stormfront, (some true believers from there seem to visit CF fairly often) general racist garbage is what is usual the discussion, direct threats or things that could be claimed to be direct threats don't seem that common and along with the fact that in order for their to be any charges or investigation there has to be a report, I'm sure there are some folks perusing sites like SF to check out their favorite troublemakers, but I suspect most of the proposed or already comitted acts of violence that draw attention are the ones other users of those sites call in.

 

[Glas Ridire]

I don't know how to get this Facebook setting where people I am not connected to somehow post things up on my wall or whatever that are offensive. Like the proverbial, don't click on the post if it looks like it will offend you, I seem to be able to "friend" people I know and like and family. Maybe I am not using Facebook right, Quasi-Nazi's just don't seem interested in interacting with me in that venue. Could be the family history of killing KKK members, could be I just don't travel in the right circles, but they seem to be leaving me alone.

I do support the wholesale 1A, freedom of speech. . .. yeah I also support consequences for words (if you threaten me, I reserve the right to act according to the apparent veracity of the threat) but I do not think that people "under the bridge" on the internet should be prosecuted for speaking their "mind" in the known realm of trolls.

 

[Paradoxum]

I don't think this is right. His statements are horrible, but I don't think he should be imprisoned for them. Still, I'm too apathetic to make a fussy about it :S