Guy jailed for writing kill all muslims

Naff8000

Naff8000

Naff8000

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12 Jan 2009
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I cannot believe this guy has been jailed for a year. Despite the fact he's a total idiot and it's a messed up point of view, the freedom of speech laws in this country are scary that such a, perhaps drunken tirade on a website lands you in jail for a year and ruins your career/possibly life. Think of all the anonymous trolls out there, are they going to start tracking them down and jailing them too?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-41186060
 
He was inciting racial hatred. Seems pretty clear cut. In terms of the booze aspect, I've been drunk many times and never suggested we kill all Muslims, nor have I told police that given the chance I would blow up a mosque.

Freedom of speech has limits in this country. Whether you agree or not, at the moment that's the law.
 
chroniclard said:
Abuse and inciting hatred isn't trolling. Trolls are misrepresented in the media! Guys an idiot, deserves jail.
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I caught 10 minutes of a documentary tonight about trolling and thought about starting a thread on here. When did troll become synonymous with online abuse. I started using the internet in the mid to late nineties when it was kind of taking off for private use. Back then trolls were jokers who hung around message boards taking the mick. A good troll (and they were rare) was a great asset to an online community. Give us our bloody word back!
 
FortuitousFluke said:
I caught 10 minutes of a documentary tonight about trolling and thought about starting a thread on here. When did troll become synonymous with online abuse. I started using the internet in the mid to late nineties when it was kind of taking off for private use. Back then trolls were jokers who hung around message boards taking the mick. A good troll (and they were rare) was a great asset to an online community. Give us our bloody word back!
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Indeed. It's now synonymous with abusive online cretins due to being misappropriated by the media.
 
Have a look at some comments on youtube, same kind of thing. Not sure what to say, does seem a bit harse as people who mouth off like this are very unlikley to actually carry something out. It's the quiet sleepers that keep anonymous that usually carry out attacks as far as I can see. He obvioulsy just got so many complaints that the police felt they had no choice but to act, make an example of him.
 
It seems so bizarre that someone in a self destructive frame of mind could potentially land themselves in jail on purpose, simply by typing a sentence on a keyboard...
 
FortuitousFluke said:
I caught 10 minutes of a documentary tonight about trolling and thought about starting a thread on here. When did troll become synonymous with online abuse. I started using the internet in the mid to late nineties when it was kind of taking off for private use. Back then trolls were jokers who hung around message boards taking the mick. A good troll (and they were rare) was a great asset to an online community. Give us our bloody word back!
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i think it started around the same time people started taping things to lighters and calling it a "hack".

tbh methinks it's going to be shorter lived than people think, we're stuck now with the generation some folk like to call ********** who have had the internet from a young age, but with parents who are clueless about it (in terms of the general populace at least).

people who aren't old enough to remember before the internet was a big deal in everyday life (and hence can't make the distinction that what random idiots say isn't important), but who also don't have the ability to draw on their parents experience teach them.

generations being born now and later to parents who have had extensive internet experience aren't going to be nearly as susceptible, it's a bit like the early days of radio drama and people going crazy when they turned on half-way into war of the worlds or somesuch and genuinely thought martians were invading because they didn't realise it was just a story.
 
Can't be ****** to read article. Is he saying kill A Muslim, or kill all Muslims?

Because the latter is more a statement of belief (however misguided) whilst the former is a specific threat.

The whole misattributed quote by Voltaire comes to mind ....
 
I'm sure many of us have said quite abhorrent things on the odd occasion when drunk. It's a worrying precedent tbh.

I seem to remember certain groups shouting much the same kind of thing in protests and not being jailed... EDL and Anjem Choudary's lot come to mind. Does posting it on the internet make it different somehow?
 
Choudary (who knew about the law) was very careful to go right up to the line, or at least he was until he got convicted for soliciting support for a proscribed organisation.

This guy using the word "let's" is potentially what pushed it into incitement vs. something along the lines of "I hope they die".
 
It's just a bit concerning that something stupid said when either drink or emotion has hold of you can result in jail time. Don't get me wrong I think this guy needed at the very least a caution if he had no previous, but I have very mixed feelings about the clampdowns on social media posts of late.

I suspect in this particular case that we're not seeing everything else he posted but I can definitely see us heading down a road where anyone who has any thoughts heading into controversial territory will just keep their mouths shut and it'll keep bubbling away under the surface.

Years ago no-one would pay any attention but with the advent of the internet, people are easily able to find like-minded, aggrieved individuals. That could get ugly.
 
Id hazard a guess it was less the post that got him put in prison and more his conduct when interviewed by old bill. Still a pretty pathetic reason to put someone away tho
 
Narj said:
It's just a bit concerning that something stupid said when either drink or emotion has hold of you can result in jail time. Don't get me wrong I think this guy needed at the very least a caution if he had no previous, but I have very mixed feelings about the clampdowns on social media posts of late.

I suspect in this particular case that we're not seeing everything else he posted but I can definitely see us heading down a road where anyone who has any thoughts heading into controversial territory will just keep their mouths shut and it'll keep bubbling away under the surface.

Years ago no-one would pay any attention but with the advent of the internet, people are easily able to find like-minded, aggrieved individuals. That could get ugly.
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If you text someone while you're drunk threatening to kill them then you could end up in prison for it. It's probably not thought about enough that getting hammered and doing something daft could have real long-term consequences but it's not like the perpetrator being drunk changes the outcome of their actions.
 
It says two thirds of his followers agreed with his post. To be honest this is why I agree with Trump restricting immigration from terrorist affected Muslim countries, for every terrorist that sneaks into the country and kills people you get idiots like this who become radicalised against them. It's going to create more and more division and those wanting to live happily and peacefully will suffer the most.
 
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