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.'"

Comments

Re:Too bad

[phantomfive]

Typical comment from Daily Kos: "I wonder what circle of Hell Breitbart's in now. He wasn't influential enough to be in the 9th circle. The bottom rung is reserved for Lords. He's probably in the 7th with the whores."

Typical comment from Youtube: "FUCK THE PRICESSES THE HORSE IS DIED!"

I only mention the youtube comment there because it got 72 thumbs up. Certainly Dailykos is an echo chamber for people of a certain political persuasion to visit and feel good talking to people who agree with them. That is silly but understandable.

Youtube users need to be rounded up because they need help, not because of any free speech issue. Someone should find those people for their own good.