Forum Home > Non-Gaming > General Discussion > Internet Troll Jailed
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cpnichol
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Posts: 5684
Internet Troll Jailed
Posted: Sep 13, 2011, 17:40:52
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That's right, someone got sent to jail for trolling in the UK. For those of you unfamiliar with the term it roughly means someone who posts inflammatory messages, pics or vids with the aim of provoking a reaction.

Sounds failry harmless, so how did this guy manage to get sent to jail for doing it?

What he did was scour local newspapers looking for teenagers who'd died and then he would seek out any tribute sites and post unpleasent things. Apparently he posted a message on a site paying tribute to a 16 year old girl who died in a car crash saying that it was a "tragic waste of a good car". And created a Facebook profile called Tasha The Tank Engine to mock the family of a 15 year old girl called Natasha who killed herself by throwing herself in front of a train. Most media are saying his comments were too offensive to report.

He got jailed for 18 weeks and was banned from joining any social networking sites for 5 years.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/memorial-cyber-bully-sent-prison-131225378.html

shift944
Board Admin
Posts: 475
Re: Internet Troll Jailed
Posted: Sep 13, 2011, 22:31:15
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As much as I don't like this, it would be a violation fo our civil rights here in America. There is a large movement towards Constitutionalism here and unfortunately, "cyber-bullying" or not, the ACLU would have a field day with something like this. IMHO this story suggests a movement more towards a police state, and if people continue to support it they will eventually regret it.

This sounds comparable to the Westboro Baptist Church is a way that it attacks and attempts to degenerate greiving families and social groups. Its certaintly not right, but its is very difficult to say whether we obey the Constitution or decide to protect people on an individual level and toss away our First Amendment.

And even still, if you want to truley punish somebody like this, don't put them in a celll for 18 months, put them out in the publics eye, like a storefront display for 12 hrs a day, so people can really tell him what they think and feel. Public humiliation works.
Last Edited: Sep 13, 2011, 22:32:06
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Forum Home > Non-Gaming > General Discussion > Internet Troll Jailed