Troll jailed for trolling

Not sure if this has been posted yet but only just found it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-14894576

Hmm....

Well, the guy was obviously a f**king dick and I don't agree for a minute with his actions, but to be jailed for it?

Pretty murky waters. I know we don't officially have freedom of speech the way that America has but I didn't think someone could get jailed for posting some insults on the internet.

where do you draw the line on 'taste' though. That's pretty sick, to say stuff about dead kids, compared to just making snarky remarks to other adults.

It's completely f**ked up and despicable I agree. I just don't think it's worthy of jail time.

I agree with Jill. "Trolling" is only the half of it. An insult added to injury.

Whether jail is the answer, lobotomy or community service, I am not sure.

And where do you draw the line? Because there must be a line now if someone has gone to jail for it. At what point does an insult become a crime?

PeterCS wrote:I agree with Jill. "Trolling" is only the half of it. An insult added to injury.

Whether jail is the answer, lobotomy or community service, I am not sure.

What seems mental to me is that the girl who committed suicide was apparently a victim of cyberbullying which was said to play a part in her tragic death, yet the kids who baited her in the first place didn't go to jail.

So it's acceptable to troll someone to the point of suicide but it's not acceptable to make fun of them after they are dead?

When I say "acceptable" I mean in terms of a jail sentence. Obviously it's sh!tty behaviour either way.

vilkrang wrote:It's completely f**ked up and despicable I agree. I just don't think it's worthy of jail time.

Well, I'm glad he was sent down, and I hope he comes out with an a-hole the size of a jam donought.

vilkrang wrote:

PeterCS wrote:I agree with Jill. "Trolling" is only the half of it. An insult added to injury.

Whether jail is the answer, lobotomy or community service, I am not sure.

What seems mental to me is that the girl who committed suicide was apparently a victim of cyberbullying which was said to play a part in her tragic death, yet the kids who baited her in the first place didn't go to jail.
.

That is the awful part. Bet they had to talk to counsellors or something equally ineffectual.

Basil wrote:

vilkrang wrote:It's completely f**ked up and despicable I agree. I just don't think it's worthy of jail time.

Well, I'm glad he was sent down, and I hope he comes out with an a-hole the size of a jam donought.

I'm not saying I like the guy ffs, I just think this sets a dangerous precedent.

And as an aside, if I were to die a tragic death I would hope my loved ones wouldn't set up a PUBLIC facebook memorial to me. There's a lot of f**kwads like this on the 'net.

Perhaps the judge was taking a precedent from Eurolaw

In [Belgium], the crime of “calumnious denunciation” (Article 445) is punished with 15 days to six months in prison, plus a fine.

You do. You DO like the guy. Admit it, vilks.

I think he's a fat f**king loser with no friends.

I just don't think he deserves to be jailed for being a dick.

Nahhhhhh. I'm totally with vilks here. Despicably pernicious of the thunderqunt, but no. No way. No jail time for that sort of sh!t. A good shelling, maybe, but not bird.

I agree that the kids should also be called to account [pun?], on a separate basis.

The law seems presently less inclined to follow those up, though. Presumably because it might be harder to prove anything against any individual.

That's where Civics classes in schools should be taking a lead, to point out the reprehensibility and the responsibilities of cyberbullying in the first place.

Whereas the aggravated dickhead who has been briefly banged up seems to have been clearly and directly responsible for a definite offence against what we could simplify as truth and honour.

Who defines "Truth and honour"? What if the definition changed over time and lesser acts were punishable by jail time?

You'd be banged up with the keys thrown into the Pacific, and you'd be so far back inside they'd have to pump air in to you.

In a few years time you'll be jailed for that. You've really hurt my feelings.

Hold up, have I not read it right - did he goad her into suicide?

"Honour" in the sense of a reasonable degree of respect and standing, and absence of unjustified contempt and hatred, in the community, and society at large.

I think this case of aggravated trolling (not merely "trolling" in a typical sense) is demonstrably a pretty heinous offence on those lines.

Brass Monkey wrote:Hold up, have I not read it right - did he goad her into suicide?

Nope. The people who did that got fark all.

He mocked her and her family after she was dead.

This lot says to me that the guy should be taken out of society, probably for a considerable time.

Whether jail is a way of dealing with Asperger's, I agree, quite possibly not. But you can't honestly, reasonably, let this go on and on and on, surely?

He had also posted offensive messages about Lauren Drew, 14, of Gloucestershire, who was found dead after suffering a suspected epileptic seizure, Hayley Bates, 16, of Staffordshire, who died in a car crash, and Jordan Cooper, 14, who was stabbed to death in Northumberland.

On Mother's Day he posted a message on an online memorial page to Lauren reading: "Help me mummy, it's hot in hell".

Duffy also produced an image of Hayley with crosses on her eyes and red marks on her face. He also wrote explicit messages to Hayley's sister Heather.

The family of stabbing victim Jordan had also seen abusive messages directed at the youngster on an online memorial and a YouTube video defacing an image of the teenager.

PeterCS wrote:"Honour" in the sense of a reasonable degree of respect and standing, and absence of unjustified contempt and hatred, in the community, and society at large.

I think this case of aggravated trolling (not merely "trolling" in a typical sense) is demonstrably a pretty heinous offence on those lines.

Again, who defines it?

Everything in that post could be twisted quite easily to suit a much lesser offence than the jizz stain who is in jail commited.

PeterCS wrote:This lot says to me that the guy should be taken out of society, probably for a considerable time.

Whether jail is a way of dealing with Asperger's, I agree, quite possibly not. But you can't honestly, reasonably, let this go on and on and on, surely?

He had also posted offensive messages about Lauren Drew, 14, of Gloucestershire, who was found dead after suffering a suspected epileptic seizure, Hayley Bates, 16, of Staffordshire, who died in a car crash, and Jordan Cooper, 14, who was stabbed to death in Northumberland.

On Mother's Day he posted a message on an online memorial page to Lauren reading: "Help me mummy, it's hot in hell".

Duffy also produced an image of Hayley with crosses on her eyes and red marks on her face. He also wrote explicit messages to Hayley's sister Heather.

The family of stabbing victim Jordan had also seen abusive messages directed at the youngster on an online memorial and a YouTube video defacing an image of the teenager.

I'm playing devils advocate a bit here Petey because I do think the guy is a tosser and personally no, I wouldn't want to see this sort of behaviour continuing.

It just seems quite hard to legislate against when it's impossible to quantify the scale of such an offence. It also goes completely against my views on free speech.

I'm not sure it can be twisted that far.

"Honour" killing is a travesty of any civil society conception of honour, for example - and a contradiction in terms by anything but headtwistedly fundamentalist religious-moral principles.

vilkrang wrote:

PeterCS wrote:This lot says to me that the guy should be taken out of society, probably for a considerable time.

Whether jail is a way of dealing with Asperger's, I agree, quite possibly not. But you can't honestly, reasonably, let this go on and on and on, surely?

He had also posted offensive messages about Lauren Drew, 14, of Gloucestershire, who was found dead after suffering a suspected epileptic seizure, Hayley Bates, 16, of Staffordshire, who died in a car crash, and Jordan Cooper, 14, who was stabbed to death in Northumberland.

On Mother's Day he posted a message on an online memorial page to Lauren reading: "Help me mummy, it's hot in hell".

Duffy also produced an image of Hayley with crosses on her eyes and red marks on her face. He also wrote explicit messages to Hayley's sister Heather.

The family of stabbing victim Jordan had also seen abusive messages directed at the youngster on an online memorial and a YouTube video defacing an image of the teenager.

I'm playing devils advocate a bit here Petey because I do think the guy is a tosser and personally no, I wouldn't want to see this sort of behaviour continuing.

It just seems quite hard to legislate against when it's impossible to quantify the scale of such an offence. It also goes completely against my views on free speech.

No, I got that.

But free speech is never helpfully treated as an absolute. It is generally contingent on some concept of shared decency. Otherwise you have incitement to murder, incitement to violence, incitement to hatred, defamation, malicious gossip, etc. etc. all blessed by civil society.