Slashdot Mirror
The Text Message Typo That Landed a Man In Jail
Barence writes "A British man was jailed for 18 months for accidentally sending an explicit text message to his entire address book. 24-year-old swimming coach Craig Evans intended to send a text message to his girlfriend asking her for sex. Instead, the message was accidentally sent to his entire BlackBerry address book, including two girls, aged 13 and 14, from his swimming class. He was subsequently arrested and charged with 'causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity,' and – incredibly – jailed for 18 months at Birmingham Crown Court in July. Yesterday, an appeal's court freed Evans, although he wasn't cleared — the sentence was merely reduced to a nine-month suspended jail term."
Think of the (potential) consequences.
that it must have been a jury made up of 12 Daily Mail readers.
"Perhaps someone needs to let Stephen Fry, Al Murray and Chambersâ(TM) other celebrity backers know about this latest instance of the British justice system failing to grasp modern technology?"
Celebrity backers? How about to make it in TODAY'S world, with TODAY'S politics, we require testing for our representatives to make sure they understand the concepts going on outside of their safety bubble? Too much to ask for? Well - "why don't airplanes windows roll down?" - Romney
Soapbox, ballot box, jury box, ammo box... containing paintballs. ;)
Why did he have the phone numbers of 13 and 14 year old students on his mobile phone?
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
I can't even figure out how to send a message to all my Blackberry contacts...
How does one make a mistake like that?
Great advertisement! Just what BB desperately needs now. Oh, wait..
Sounds a little like the ProjetX we had here in Holland. A girl accidentally asked the whole FB community to join her on her birthday-party. She forgot to mention that it was for her friends and family only.
Thousands gathered in a small village (pop. 20.000), rioted, plundered stores, burned cars, damage ~ 1 million total.
A quick search on "projectX Haren" should suffice for more info.
On the guy... that is well inconvenient mate!
rm -rf --no-preserve-root /
Only source for this appears to be the Daily Mail, not a publication noted for its accurate reporting. How easy is it to accidentally send a text message to an entire contact list on Blackberries? I've never used a phone that made such a thing possible.
How do you even send a text message to your entire address book? This sounds more like the guy used some very poor judgement, but I doubt it was accidental.
Why did he have teenage girls' numbers in his address book?? Would he ever need to contact his pupils??
Taken out of context (i.e. him being their swimming instructor) this is a huge PEDO RED FLAG!! I just wouldn't take my chances in this crazy society in which we live.
This is exactly the reason I have no minors in my Facebook (regardless of relationship), my work e-mail is used exclusively for work-related messages, etc.
Just plain ridiculous
I guess they didn't consider reasonable doubt. If his girlfriend was in his address book, then it's obvious his girlfriend would see it if it were sent to the whole address book. What person would do that in his or her right mind? Obviously it was an accident. It would be like yelling over a megaphone to a crowd as to who wants to have sex with you, knowing full well that your wife is in said audience.
Perv!
incredible. IANAL but i think it would be trivial to prove it was a accidental message (all of his contacts received it roughly at the same time, including, probably his mother and father), but since it's about chiiiiildren, we must think of them right?
What stupid user interface does a blackberry have to enable that in the first place? I cannot imagine any message that I would ever want to send to everyone I know.
Also, if he would have started the text with the name of his girlfriend, I'm sure he would have been in far less trouble.
Also, stupid Brits. It was a mistake.
1. He's British. The British don't have freedom of speech, so this is really no surprise.
2. He's obviously guilty of exactly what he was charged with.
3. Sending a sensitive text message to all instead of to one person is extremely negligent. That alone is worthy of punishment.
4. 18 months for a pedophilia-related charge is actually surprisingly lenient. Usually these things are punished with a fate worse than death.
First of all, anything the Daily Mail writes is a lie, even the date on the front page.
Second, he did send a sexual text to underaged children. That it was by accident makes it alright? As lots have already commented, it is hard to send a text to everyone by accident because this is not the normal function. If I kill you by accident, that is alright then?
Third, he had his sentence reduced, a suspended sentence entire goal is to say "don't do it again or we will get you". He now has to prove for 6 months that he is not going to do something incredibly stupid again.
Really, accidently sending a sexually tinted message to everyone by mistake, what an idiot. MESSAGE ENDS
So how about it, do you want to come over for a night of passionatie steaming hot sex?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
You can send a broadcast message to all contacts in a folder or to individual contacts. Recipients cannot reply to broadcast messages.
On the Contact list screen, press the Menu key.
Click Broadcast Message.
Complete the Announcement field.
If you have administrator permissions and want to send the broadcast message to all of the users on the server, select the System message check box. Click OK.
Click Recipients.
Click a folder.
Perform one of the following actions:
To send the broadcast message to all of the contacts in the folder, select the Select All check box.
To send the broadcast message to individual contacts in the folder, select the check box beside the contacts.
Click OK.
Click OK.
That seems hard to do by accident, but at least slightly possible.
refactor the law, its bloated, confusing and unmaintainable.
Should have gotten an iPhone, then he'd only have sent the message to the men on his contact list.
Perhaps the law in question is strict liability - if you did you're liable even without malicious intent.
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
Obviously (at least if the Daily Mail is to be believed, and I do have some doubts about this), the guy does not belong in jail, nor does he belong on the sex offenders list. The worst that should have happened to him was that he had to apologize to everyone he sent this message to, nothing more, nothing less.
Negligent? Maybe, but to err is human. All too often these days a simple mistake (whether it be sending the message or buying a Blackberry in the first place) is twisted into something that it simply is not: a crime.
And on the Eighth Day, Man created God.
Anyway, there new stuff for him to use until then, and it all flows together.
I can't think of any circumstance in which I would want to send a single message to everyone in my address book.
Lawyers are always going on about "intent". So, where are they in this case? Oh wait no "intent" is just another tool used to put you in jail, not to help you get out.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I'm not sure I trust this story. No one seems to be reporting it except the Daily Mail.
Anyway, I am reminded of an old Dilbert strip from back in the 90's. Dogbert suggests to Dilbert that he leave the pointy-haired boss voicemail messages in the middle of the night, so that the boss will think he is diligently working on projects at all hours. Dilbert wakes up in the wee hours of the morning to leave the message, and groggily begins, "This is Dilbert. I'm sitting here in my underwear, thinking about you..." Suddenly he realizes what he has just said and frantically starts pressing buttons to delete the message. Instead, he accidentally sends it to everyone in the office.
Proverbs 21:19
A woman at work was having an affair with a man in the office. She wanted to send him a sexy picture via email, she accidentally sent it to the 4th floor distribution list.
She was gone so fast that I didn't even see her after the email, and she came back to get her things after hours.
This isn't a Blackberry issue, this is an issue about a slip of the finger, I think Jail was a little extreme. He didn't ask these girls for sex on purpose. Plus I'm sure he said more then just "lets have sex', there was probably some indication that it was meant for a certain person and not everyone.
If I was cleaning my gun, and it went off and killed someone,
I can expect harsh consequences.
I should have exercised more care.
If you are asking for sex, you better well be double/triple checking
that To: field.
Better yet, a phone call or flowers would have been better for any :)
number of reasons.
Honey, I bought the seven pints of custard and 3 packets of wooden skewers. Tonight we're going to get dirty! Phwoar!!!
(I didn't just press the "Submit" button? Did I?)
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
In a sane world, his apology and personal embarrassment would be more than enough punishment.
Posted AC, because in the US, even defending a possible pedophile.....
There is a reason why I always send only a hallmark card to my girlfriend asking for sex and thanking for sex. I can write only one address on the envelop.
Whenever I read about something this stupid all I can come up with is that the guy must have the worst lawyer on the planet.
British juries are about as intelligent as American juries, however British judges are not political appointments and so don't have to grandstand to keep their jobs.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Pedophilia is a sexual preference for prepubescent children. Sexual preference for young adolescents is hebephilia.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/contents
The relevant section is http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/10
"Causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity
(1)A person aged 18 or over (A) commits an offence if—
(a)he intentionally causes or incites another person (B) to engage in an activity,
(b)the activity is sexual, and
(c)either—
(i)B is under 16 and A does not reasonably believe that B is 16 or over, or
(ii)B is under 13.
(2)A person guilty of an offence under this section, if the activity caused or incited involved—
(a)penetration of B’s anus or vagina,
(b)penetration of B’s mouth with a person’s penis,
(c)penetration of a person’s anus or vagina with a part of B’s body or by B with anything else, or
(d)penetration of a person’s mouth with B’s penis,is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years.
(3)Unless subsection (2) applies, a person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both;
(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years."
"would you fuck me" - is clearly inciting penetration, so you can do up to 14 years for this.
This is _NOT_ a strict liability offence.
The jury must have had reason to believe that he intended to do this.
Doing it by accident _CANNOT_ lead to a conviction, unless the judge misdirects them.
For example - if he'd directed that because he intended to send it to one person on the list, that intent carried over to the unintended recipients.
Indeed, I can't seem to see any 'strict liability' offences in the act.
I may have missed some.
At a minimum you need to have intended the action and not known the other party was underage.
Really, if you are in a sexual relationship, you could at least have the courtesy to ask for sex in person. SMS has all the warmth of a late postcard.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
No it was made up of 1 Daily Mail author. Or, even more precisely, it was made up.
Damn... 18 months in jail for a typo. Did he at least get to have sex with one of the swimmers?
Punishment is more important than justice (to most people).
It should not be this way, but it is. People would rather put an innocent man in jail than bearing the slightest risk of letting a guilt man go free. This is the exact opposite of how things should be, but humans are like that.
The point is that it offers him plausible deniability as a fishing expedition - send it out and if one of the teen girls replies then he's got what he wanted
And do to that you would send a request for sex to your mom, your DAD, all your co-workers, your banker, your accountant, your SISTER, etc???
That is the dumbest theory I have ever heard. It's like "fishing" with an atom bomb, where not even the water or your own boat are left at the end of the process.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
See? That's what's wrong with this country! Our litigious, lawsuit focused culture has so many bureaucrats looking to build their own little fiefdom that even that one appeal get's it's very own court! A court, for that one, individual appeal! WTF??!???!?88??!
As an IT person I see stupid mistakes all the time, we are people, it happens, no biggie. So to jail someone for what anyone could do by accident is unconscionable.
(If at first you don't succeed, do it different next time!)
To child services for neglect, and see how she likes it. Whose fault is it the kid was locked out without an emergency contact?
I would bet if he had accidentally killed those two girls with his car, he would have gotten less jail time.
It is a bet you might very well lose:
Sentencing
A person convicted of causing death by dangerous driving is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years. Disqualification for a minimum of two years is obligatory on conviction. Endorsement is obligatory on conviction. The offense carries three to eleven penalty points (when the defendant is exceptionally not disqualified).
The Court of Appeal in R v Cooksley and others gave guidelines for cases where death is caused by dangerous driving. In R v Richardson the Court of Appeal reassessed the starting point set out in R v Cooksley taking into consideration the increase in the maximum penalty. The relevant starting points identified in Cooksley should be reassessed as follows:
i) No aggravating circumstances --- twelve months to two years' imprisonment (previously 18 months);
ii) Intermediate culpability --- two to four and a half years' imprisonment (previously 3 years);
iii) Higher culpability --- four and a half to seven years' imprisonment (previously 5 years);
iv) Most serious culpability --- seven to fourteen years' imprisonment (previous starting point of 6 years).
Causing death by dangerous driving
He should have got an iPhone and asked Siri to do the dirty work. No convictions there!
First of all, how the hell did he manage to accidentally do that? I have a Blackberry and I can't figure out a way to do that even if I try. Secondly, why the hell would a 24 year old coach have cellphone numbers of a 13 and 14 year olds, as opposed to numbers of their parents?
Bow before me, for I am root.
"The jury must have had reason to believe that he intended to do this" is false.
They have to have decided they will ignore the judge's statement and give a guilty verdict.
The reason may be "Well, he's accused of being a paedo, that's good enough for me", but it is hardly a reason you were intending in that sentence.
Well, he's lucky he wasn't in the US. Even after he got out, we would have put his name and picture on a public registry, made him stay a hundred yards away from all schools and playgrounds, and monitored his movement with GPS... AFTER he got out of prison.
What did they put the unsend button ?
My Bullshit detector went off as soon I read the summary. You can't send a text to all contacts with BB (just checked mine now). The only way to do this is to create a group, add all your contacts, then send a txt to the group. Hardly the sort of thing you would do accidently. Also the Daily Mail is one of those "President Kidnapped by Aliens!" publications. Why we keep getting Daily Mail stories on Slashdot is beyond me. Wake up Slashdot Editors.
I do Blackberry support for my company and I can vouch for how this can happen all to easily. It is also an issue that seems to happen to other phones as well. I believe it has something to do with text messaging not originally being designed for multiple recipients. What happens is you send a message to a group of people on purpose, but then later you try to send a message to just one of the people that was on that list--it has a chance to send it to everyone on the list. We verified that they are not using a group, or just responding to a group text--they are creating new texts straight from a contact and it still goes to everyone--it doesn't even say it's going to multiple people when it sends.
Coach or no,13 & 14 year old students email addresses/phone numbers or anything else do not belong in his phone or anywhere else.
Jack of all trades,master of none
It must be in their water over there. The limies are nuts!!! and what's worse is Americans want to be just like them...
I know a case where two persons had an affair and they had been sending e-mails to each other. Then one of them managed to get a computer virus on the computer and the virus sent some of those private messages to the people on the address book and soon the affair was common knowledge.
You might want to watch the show. They do an *excellent* job of covering aspects of issues you've probably never even considered.
And when fox "news" is doing such a bad job, is it really such a surprise to find actual news content in a comedy show?
Someone needs to cover these details; fox "news" sure doesn't do it.
Why send that message via text anyway? How impersonal. He should have called her, swooned her and then enjoyed her lovely hot encounter. I'd never consider sending my wife a text for that.
Oh I mistakenly killed somebody, that's called homicide/manslaughter. I accidentally copied an article, that's called plagiarism. I accidentally revealed government's secret, that's treason. What if I did the same because I am a "teacher of teens" and said that it was an accident when somebody reported me. I might also text them like this, I want n****d pics baby. See?