Three Years in Prison for Posting Hatespeak

Vainglorious Coward writes "In the UK, a man has been sentenced to three years in prison for posting inflammatory messages to a website. Pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred on a site dedicated to the memory of a murdered black teenager, the 30-year old accused stated that he was not racist, and had intended to stir up an argument on the website, but did not believe in what he had written. The defending lawyer described her client as 'isolated and living in a fantasy world, spending hours on his computer in his room where his persona could be as he made it, good or bad.'"

Comments

Re:Bizarre

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because you care, doesn't mean others do, and doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them.

It's like the whole 9/11 story. Not everyone was crying when it happened. And the fact that some were laughing about it doesn't mean they have a grudge against the american nation or the persons involved, nor does it mean that they have some sort of mental ilness

Some people just like having fun abusing other people. Yes its wrong. Yes he should be sent to jail for it. But 3 years?! That's a bit too much.

TFA says he got 2 years and 8 months for trolling and another 6 months for the child pornography.

He didn't MAKE those pictures. And it is fairly common to make use of CP for trolling purposes. Yes, he should be punished, but even then 6 months is a bit too much for a couple of pictures used for trolling.

This is a stupid sentence.

reputation?

[poptones]

You're a moron. It's speech. Moreover, it's "anonymous" speech. There's no loaw at all against me walking right up to you on the subway and calling you an idiot - in fact, there's no law against me hitting on a 16 year old in the subway. But somehow you petty little twats have decided you can't get past the inability to get the last word in, or to seek "vengeance" for your hurt little feelings, so you need big brother to step in and protect you frpom the mean and evil people...

Its twats like you who are fucking up this world. get over yourselves. Do us all a vafor and kill yourselves - save us from having to do it for you when *that* time comes...

Insuring civil liberties

[bigtallmofo]

The most important goal in any modern country should be to insure civil liberties.

Oh crap! I forgot to insure my civil liberties. I better go get a quote at GEICO.

I just saved a ton of money on my Civil Liberty Insurance! That should ensure that I'll always have them.

Re:Crap, we have laws like that?

[1u3hr]

Nonsense; the evil actions of a leader doesn't blind everyone under their rule to morality. Many of us are outraged at what is happening at those places as are we with the apparent lack of freedom of expression in the UK being shown right now.

The post I was replying to was criticizing the UK by comparison with the US in its respect for civil liberties. That's what made me choke on my pretzel. As for "evil actions of a leader...". You (presuming you're American) voted him in and re-elected him. Even if you didn't vote Republican, your representatives confirmed his actions.

Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001
Vote Counts: YEAs 98
NAYs 1
Not Voting 1

Re:Trolls

[Lars T.]

Rubbish. Millions of people, famous and average, have said, openly and freely, that he is a bad president. They were not punished for it. Thousands of people have suggested that he should be impeached, openly and freely, and they have not been punished for it.

Yeah, having a hard time flying in the US sure isn't some kind of punishment.