Brit's Supporting Trolls

[JackLuis]

Activists leaping to the defense of online ‘trolls’ in the UK

For many they are the scourge of the Internet, but rights campaigners in Britain are increasingly leaping to the defence of online “trolls” amid a string of criminal trials over tweets and Facebook posts.

Prosecutors are to revamp their approach to cases involving social media following an outcry over freedom of speech, after “offensive” online comments from bad jokes to homophobic insults resulted in arrests and even jail.

Since the Brit's seem to appreciate Trolls, maybe we could ship them a few?

 

[oggbashan]

Since the Brit's seem to appreciate Trolls, maybe we could ship them a few?

We don't appreciate trolls but we do not have the constitutional protection of free speech that the US has.

What is worrying is the harsh sentences for trolls compared with the light sentences for real physical abuse. When someone who beats up his girlfriend can get a community punishment, and a troll who has been offensive but hasn't touched anyone can get a prison sentence - something is wrong.

Trolls can be obnoxious, hurtful, insensitive and just assholes but the punishment looks like an attempt to restrict free speech. The danger to free speech is more important than the asshole.

The case of the man jailed for wearing an offensive T-shirt within hours of two policewomen being shot dead in that town wasn't so simple. He was in breach of a court order as well as being an asshole. That wasn't free speech. That was stupidity.

 

[Handley_Page]

Since the Brit's seem to appreciate Trolls, maybe we could ship them a few?

Please - don't bother; we have enough as it is.

 

[manyeyedhydra]

It's mostly out of fear of seeing free speech stifled. People should not be getting jail sentences for stupid rants on social networks.

 

[Stella_Omega]

This seems to be the nutshell right here;

A 19-year-old man was handed three months in prison on Monday after posting crude jokes on Facebook about a missing five-year-old thought to have been murdered in Wales.

Matthew Woods’ comments prompted an angry mob to gather at his home, and he was initially arrested “for his own safety”.

But many contrasted his jail time with a community sentence handed on the same day to a TV comedian, Justin Lee Collins, who was found guilty of a campaign of abuse of his girlfriend, in which social media was not involved.

Not a defense of trolls per se-- a commentary on the unevenness of policy.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Coppers like to go home after work so they try and fill their shifts with BS capers rather than violent animals. I've seen cops pull over a driver for a seatbelt violation and ignore a car wreck less than a block away. I've seen them stop to help look for a lost dog to avoid a DV call.

I asked the cop, WHY DID YOU DO THAT? And his first lie was, WE'RE OBLIGATED TO ASSIST CITIZENS WHO STOP US. I said, SO YOU DONT HAVE PRIORITY CALLS? YOUR DISPATCHER SEZ YOU DO. I BEEN WAITING AN HOUR WHILE YOU FUCKED WITH THE DOG.

 

[lovecraft68]

This just shows how pathetically weak people have become.

Sticks and stones. Don;t like what some asshole is posting? Ignore him. Stay the hell off facebook and twitter and whatever else and get a fucking life for Christ's sake.

And as MEH says freedom of speech works both ways. Or at least it used to because it for damn sure no longer does in this country.

 

[lovecraft68]

This seems to be the nutshell right here;

Not a defense of trolls per se-- a commentary on the unevenness of policy.

Well yeah! Since when is abusing a woman considered a crime?

Now a tasteless joke on the other hand well....

Maybe the woman has a batshit crazy brother that can settle the score for her. The way things are these days its coming down to vigilantism being the only way to set things straight.

Lex Talionis will soon become a form of defense.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Lex Talionis will soon become a form of defense.

Yeah, dudes keep saying that shit. But no.

I remember back in the seventies, when that book "Lucifer's Hammer" hit the stands. Some crazy homeless guy came up to pretty little girly teenaged me, and told me I had to come with him because when the meteorite hit the planet he would be able to protect me against all the other crazy homeless guys.

I'm betting he was a Vietnam vet; he was truly sincere, and I was very touched by his concern-- but I backed away before I could be touched by his hands, which were following hard after -- bless his heart. I told him thanks but he needed to take care of himself first.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yeah, dudes keep saying that shit. But no.

I remember back in the seventies, when that book "Lucifer's Hammer" hit the stands. Some crazy homeless guy came up to pretty little girly teenaged me, and told me I had to come with him because when the meteorite hit the planet he would be able to protect me against all the other crazy homeless guys.

I'm betting he was a Vietnam vet; he was truly sincere, and I was very touched by his concern-- but I backed away before I could be touched by his hands, which were following hard after -- bless his heart. I told him thanks but he needed to take care of himself first.

Poor guy, like you said, probably believed it. I never mock those people actually the only people I ever mock are the bullies that mock others.

But we are living in an increasingly ass backwards society and things are getting worse.

So my wife has a friend who he and his wife are both highly educated people with Brady Bunch upbringings great careers.

two months ago their 11 year old son stole their credit card and spent $2500 on a prosthetic mermaid tail, because he wants to be a mermaid so a man will want him.

He has a ton of pics of the little mermaid naked and getting nasty from porn toon sites. The kid has a mermaid fetish at 11

last week the guy down the street called him over and showed him where the guys(my wife's friends) 13 year old daughter has been sending his 22 year old son naked pics of herself.

Hell and a hand basket, Stella, hell and a hand basket.

 

[Stella_Omega]

O tempora O motherfucking mores, dude.

 

[Handley_Page]

Stella:
" This seems to be the nutshell right here;
Quote:
A 19-year-old man was handed three months in prison on Monday after posting crude jokes on Facebook about a missing five-year-old thought to have been murdered in Wales.

Matthew Woods’ comments prompted an angry mob to gather at his home, and he was initially arrested “for his own safety”.

But many contrasted his jail time with a community sentence handed on the same day to a TV comedian, Justin Lee Collins, who was found guilty of a campaign of abuse of his girlfriend, in which social media was not involved. "

Matthew Woods' so-called jokes about the missing April (whose body has still not been found as far as I know), were inappropriate because the community in which she lived of small and very close-knit; In a big city, it might not have had the same impact. Given the feelings of the people round there, Woods would likely have been in Hospital for a long, long time if not the grave. We've had Lynch mobs over here too!

As for Collins, he's just nuts!

And as to Troll in general, there's a page on facebook dedicated to making jokes about dead soldiers. It's absolutely pathetic and the founder of that page should be named and shamed; then shot !