British Men Jailed For Online Hate Crimes

chrb writes "Two British men have become the first to be jailed for inciting racial hatred online. The men believed that material they published on web servers based in the United States did not fall under the jurisdiction of UK law and was protected under the First Amendment. This argument was rejected by the British trial judge. After being found guilty, the men fled to Los Angeles, where they attempted to claim political asylum, again arguing that they were being persecuted by the British government for speech that was protected under the First Amendment. The asylum bid was rejected and the two were deported back to the UK after spending over a year in a US jail."

Comments

Re:Apparently Free Speech rights do not cover Hate

[Hognoxious]

This act has several exceptions, notably those on religious and racial hatred free speech when directed against muslims

Fixed that for you.

Re:Orwell was off by about 25 years

[MindlessAutomata]

But would he have been consistent towards RACISM? It's easy to prattle on about individuals rights, but a whole 'nother thing to actually be consistent about it. As we see with the mouthbreathers arguing for hate speech laws, they may not actually believe what they claim to believe.