Slashdot Mirror
In UK, Twitter, Facebook Rants Land Some In Jail
concealment writes with this excerpt from an Associated Press story, as carried by the Houston Chronicle:"In Britain, hundreds of people are prosecuted each year for posts, tweets, texts and emails deemed menacing, indecent, offensive or obscene, and the number is growing as our online lives expand. 'Fifty years ago someone would have made a really offensive comment in a public space and it would have been heard by relatively few people,' said Mike Harris of free-speech group Index on Censorship. People take it upon themselves to report this offensive material to police, and suddenly you've got the criminalization of offensive speech. Figures obtained by The Associated Press through a freedom of information request show a steadily rising tally of prosecutions in Britain for electronic communications — phone calls, emails and social media posts — that are grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character — from 1,263 in 2009 to 1,843 in 2011. Justice Igor Judge said in his judgment that the law should not prevent 'satirical or iconoclastic or rude comment, the expression of unpopular or unfashionable opinion about serious or trivial matters, banter or humor, even if distasteful to some or painful to those subjected to it.'"
Big Brother is watching...
If they're going to round up people, I wish they'd round up youtube commenters. Those idiots need some help and re-education.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
WTF is this?!? Some homosexual orgy story in the Bible?!?
No, you are the perv. You missed the part where Saul was dead.
Ew, that's even worse.
That would depend on whether or not he has a voice activated murder weapon.
They're called Muslims. Insult the qur'an and they go on a murderous outrage
Works for most religions:
"They're called Catholics - suggest a woman should have choice over her own body and they'll bomb your pub"
"They're called protestants - say the wrong thing on the wrong street and they'll burn your entire neighbourhood"
"They're called Buddhists - say the wrong thing and they'll set themselves on fire..."
Wait... that one didn't work so well.