Police to get tough on internet trolls.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

It remains to be seen whether this holds up in court. They will have to prove intent. The accused would probably say they were just having a laugh.

Clearly, this was a dispicable act, but I doubt that it was criminal.

I agree, it was in very poor taste, but getting the police involved is going too far.

The thought police will be on their way before you know it.

[heero_yuy]

Seems to be typical of todays snowflake society: The total overreaction to what is in reality a minor event but blown up out of all proportion by the press and politicians for their own ends and the police going along with the nonsense.

Meanwhile the rising tide of knife crime, murders, burglaries etc continues unabated.

No doubt the keyboard warriors are already formulating their death threats to those involved blind to the irony of their actions.

[RichardCoulter]

The men who did this say that they now fear for their lives and deny being racist.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

The men who did this say that they now fear for their lives and deny being racist.

Not the outcome they expected.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Pierre

I agree, it was in very poor taste, but getting the police involved is going too far.

The thought police will be on their way before you know it.

I suppose it's part and parcel of them getting tougher on this sort of thing.

---------- Post added at 20:02 ---------- Previous post was at 19:58 ----------

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Seems to be typical of todays snowflake society: The total overreaction to what is in reality a minor event but blown up out of all proportion by the press and politicians for their own ends and the police going along with the nonsense.

Meanwhile the rising tide of knife crime, murders, burglaries etc continues unabated.

No doubt the keyboard warriors are already formulating their death threats to those involved blind to the irony of their actions.

I can see where your coming from, but a zero tolerance to internet bullying etc could well prevent the perpetrators going on to do things in person.

I do believe that, as austerity took hold, some things weren't dealt with and we are now reaping the result of this.

---------- Post added at 20:06 ---------- Previous post was at 20:02 ----------

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Not the outcome they expected.

Absolutely, maybe some good can come out of this though and it will encourage more people to think twice before uploading anything objectionable on the internet.

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Absolutely, maybe some good can come out of this though and it will encourage more people to think twice before uploading anything objectionable on the internet.

Objectionable in whose opinion ?

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Objectionable in whose opinion ?

That's part of the problem. These guys just thought it was funny and probably had no idea it would cause widespread offence.

They know now.

The fact these people's names will be all over the internet for years to come relating to this is a greater punishment than the police can ever give. All because of one stupid stunt.

I do wonder what on earth they were thinking. I find it bizarre they even went the trouble of producing little cardboard people to represent those who died and recorded the whole thing whilst shouting 'jump', it's a lot of effort to go to that you wonder if it ever crossed their minds how dumb it was.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

It remains to be seen whether this holds up in court. They will have to prove intent. The accused would probably say they were just having a laugh.

Clearly, this was a dispicable act, but I doubt that it was criminal.

A former chief prosecutors view.

But Nazir Afzal, former chief prosecutor for the north west, said But Nazir Afzal, former chief prosecutor for the north west, said the CPS may bring charges under the Malicious Communications Act.

“Something that’s grossly offensive is not always an offence. There is an offence under the Communications Act which shows that basically by posting something that’s offensive you could face consequences in relation to that.”

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by denphone

A former chief prosecutors view.

once you go down this road, it's a hand cart to hell.

You make offending someone a criminal act.

In regards to this particular stunt, did I find it funny....no, did I think it in poor taste....yes. Was I offended by it........NO.

If I had friends or relatives die in that tower of course I would think differently.......but it's still subjective.

to use the Malicious Communications Act is tenuous and I don't think it was written for this type of incident.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/27/section/1

it's more to do with a directed attack on an individual, not something that is broadcast.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by denphone

A former chief prosecutors view.

The problem is, Den, that some people draw offence from the smallest things these days. Where do you draw the line?

Have you watched any comedy shows lately? Most gags used these days are going to offend somebody.

No, I think we should not do anything which restricts free speech any further and we do not want to get sucked into a police state.

I thought we left 1984 behind a long time ago.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Pierre

once you go down this road, it's a hand cart to hell.

You make offending someone a criminal act.

.

l agree.

---------- Post added at 09:55 ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 ----------

Originally Posted by Pierre

In regards to this particular stunt, did I find it funny....no, did I think it in poor taste....yes. Was I offended by it........NO.

If I had friends or relatives die in that tower of course I would think differently.......but it's still subjective.

Indeed it was in very poor taste but was l personally offended by it and the answer is no.

---------- Post added at 09:59 ---------- Previous post was at 09:55 ----------

Originally Posted by Pierre

to use the Malicious Communications Act is tenuous and I don't think it was written for this type of incident.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/27/section/1

it's more to do with a directed attack on an individual, not something that is broadcast.

Other then them being arrested l would be pretty surprised if charges are levelled at them and it ends up in court.

---------- Post added at 10:03 ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 ----------

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

The problem is, Den, that some people draw offence from the smallest things these days. Where do you draw the line?

Have you watched any comedy shows lately? Most gags used these days are going to offend somebody.

No, I think we should not do anything which restricts free speech any further and we do not want to get sucked into a police state.

I thought we left 1984 behind a long time ago.

l could get offended every day if l wanted to but it takes a lot to offend me nowadays as l just let things ride over me nowadays as there are far more important things to think about in life IMO.

Also can this law be applied to the burning of other effigies such as Boris Johnson etc?

[techguyone]

Everything trivial these days gets magnified to excess, simply because we don't really have anything 'proper' to worry about, so we think triviality is really really important.

I'd guarantee if we had a proper crisis to worry about, all this bs would evaporate in a heartbeat.

My parents who lived and served through WW2 could show the modern generation a thing or two about things to be offended/concerned about.

It's all about perspective, there's nothing out there as a threat to concentrate peoples minds. In my day we were all concerned about being nuked and the 4 minute warning etc.

And up to 10 years ago, there wasn’t the instant connectivity/escalation/viral explosions of stuff like this, due to social media and click bait headlines in the online media, and the need to fill the 24x7 news cycle.