[Snagprophet]

To be fair I did troll Gary Glitter on Twitter. Am I a criminal now?

[Kiss]

This is ridiculous. You won´t be able to cough in public without getting a public offensive. This country has gone to the dogs and I´m ashamed more and more every day of the appauling PC government we have.

[Rhadamanthus]

(Original post by AnthonyShock)
There are drug addicts on the streets in my area beating up innocent people and the police don't do anything about it.

They shouldn't be concerning themselves with petty trolls, there are bigger fish to fry.

This is Dorset Police we're talking about. The most serious crime I remember hearing about here was someone stealing a chip and pin machine from the pub.

[Negaduck]

When I play League of Legends sometimes people tell me they wish I would go kill myself/ get cancer etc when I play badly.

Can I get them arrested now? /sarcasm.

[Sillymirry]

(Original post by Lady Maleficent)
There was subsequent abuse/death threats.

There were also subsequent abuse/death threats to the 'twitter troll' himself from other twitter users however not all of them have been arrested

[Roving Fish]

This kid is not a troll though...

He's just a bastard.

[internet tough guy]

(Original post by Alpharius)
A bit disgraceful really. Arrested for (admittedly very distasteful) insults. Thats pathetic, the police need to look at themselves in the mirror. I'll be arrested for picking my nose in public at this rate...

I've seen worse insults published by restaurant/political critics. By this precedence, surely they must also be arrested?

Degredation of freedom of speech if you ask me, even if the twitter troll (not really a troll, more like an internet tough guy) is a **** (he did apologise, but then proceeded to carry on insulting the diver).

The most distasteful thing is I've seen worse on twitter with no reprocussions. It's only because its a celebrity/sports icon being targetted.

Yeah I do wonder how the police would treat it if someone who isn't famous recieved a similar level of abuse and reported it to them. Just a few scrolls around twitter and other popular internet sites and it wouldn't be long before you come across mindless insults thrown about.

[hannah60000]

(Original post by midlandsman)
Really peeves me how the media are constantly misusing the word 'troll.' Malicious abuse on the internet =/= 'trolling.'

(Original post by ESPORTIVA)
This guy is nota troll

Agreed when I heard this guy was being called a troll P'd me off what he said was nasty and malicious not trolling!

[Lady Maleficent]

(Original post by Sillymirry)
There were also subsequent abuse/death threats to the 'twitter troll' himself from other twitter users however not all of them have been arrested

As I have said - if he wants to have them arrested, he should lodge a complaint. Methinks he knows that but for his abusive comments, he would never have received a barrage of abuse.

[AntisthenesDogger]

A sad day when someone can be arrested over this. And even worse when people think it's just.

[A Mysterious Lord]

I'm not sure the majority of posters in this thread get it. Regardless of whether he trolled Tom Daley or not, he was threatening other Twitter users with rape.

The right to free speech does not extend to threats of rape and violence, whether meant intentionally or not.

[Sean9001]

(Original post by Kiss)
This is ridiculous. You won´t be able to cough in public without getting a public offensive. This country has gone to the dogs and I´m ashamed more and more every day of the appauling PC government we have.

This is not an issue of being politically correct. It's an issue of protecting an individuals right to live in reasonable peace. Some say that Daley should have expected abuse, since he put himself into the media sphere. But I say that while celebrities may have to tolerate generic criticism, no-one should ever been abandoned by the State to the extent that systematic, targeted abuse such as was received by Tom is sanctioned.

[ESPORTIVA]

(Original post by A Mysterious Lord)
I'm not sure the majority of posters in this thread get it. Regardless of whether he trolled Tom Daley or not, he was threatening other Twitter users with rape.

The right to free speech does not extend to threats of rape and violence, whether meant intentionally or not.

Freedom of speech extends to everything, its there to protect vile and hateful and controvertial things (nice things dont need defending).

[moonkatt]

(Original post by ESPORTIVA)
Freedom of speech extends to everything, its there to protect vile and hateful and controvertial things (nice things dont need defending).

Freedom of speech does not give you freedom to break the law. Threatening to rape or kill people is against the law, whether it is said on the street to their face, over the phone or across the internet. Though when it's done on the internet it's because the person saying it is too much of a pussy to say it to anyone's face.

[tc92]

(Original post by moonkatt)
Freedom of speech does not give you freedom to break the law. Threatening to rape or kill people is against the law, whether it is said on the street to their face, over the phone or across the internet. Though when it's done on the internet it's because the person saying it is too much of a pussy to say it to anyone's face.

The issue is not whether it is or isn't illegal, but whether it should be illegal in the first place. By all accounts, sending abusive messages to someone is illegal, whereas abusing someone in the street wouldn't be (barring any references to race/gender/sexuality etc etc). I don't think we have a right to not be offended. If someone wants to insult you, provided it's not stalking or persistent harassment, then I don't see why it should be illegal. It's not nice, but the law isn't there to make people be nice. Lots of things aren't nice but are legal.

[moonkatt]

(Original post by tc92)
The issue is not whether it is or isn't illegal, but whether it should be illegal in the first place. By all accounts, sending abusive messages to someone is illegal, whereas abusing someone in the street wouldn't be (barring any references to race/gender/sexuality etc etc). I don't think we have a right to not be offended. If someone wants to insult you, provided it's not stalking or persistent harassment, then I don't see why it should be illegal. It's not nice, but the law isn't there to make people be nice. Lots of things aren't nice but are legal.

So making threats to kill and rape is ok? Go and threaten to kill someone in the street then come back and tell me how it's gone. There is a difference from being offensive and making threats of violence. That is what I was getting at. You can within the law say what you want, making comments about Tom Daley's father whilst in extremely bad taste is not against the law, it's the number of threatening and violent tweets this lad sent which were against the law, be it joking or not, it will be up to the judiciary process to decide whether or not he should be dealt with for.

Just to add, a lot of people seem to be saying that I should be able to say what I want to it's not my fault if someone else gets offended. Shows how self centred society is becoming, I should be able to do what I want to and to hell with every one else.

[tc92]

(Original post by moonkatt)
So making threats to kill and rape is ok? Go and threaten to kill someone in the street then come back and tell me how it's gone. There is a difference from being offensive and making threats of violence. That is what I was getting at. You can within the law say what you want, making comments about Tom Daley's father whilst in extremely bad taste is not against the law, it's the number of threatening and violent tweets this lad sent which were against the law, be it joking or not, it will be up to the judiciary process to decide whether or not he should be dealt with for.

Just to add, a lot of people seem to be saying that I should be able to say what I want to it's not my fault if someone else gets offended. Shows how self centred society is becoming, I should be able to do what I want to and to hell with every one else.

I was referring to the Tom Daley case, nothing to do with threats to kill and rape. In any case, threatening someone is very much different from insulting someone.

You are only responsible for your own actions. It would take someone with a very self-important attitude to want to control other people's actions. ANyway, it's meaningless. You could replace "I" with "you" and it would be equally applicable. It's the law, it's universal.

[anonymouspie227]

I wasn't aware of the full extent of his comments. At first I only saw the dad comment, and I thought it was completely excessive to arrest a guy for such a childish mean comment. Then I saw the other tweets. They were threats.


I like the attention that has been given to an extent. At least we know that the next time one of us receive death threats via twitter or some other network the perpetrator will be arrested and broadcasted all over the news...

[chrislpp]

(Original post by AnthonyShock)
There are drug addicts on the streets in my area beating up innocent people and the police don't do anything about it.

They shouldn't be concerning themselves with petty trolls, there are bigger fish to fry.

But going after real criminals requires money and resources. Internet troll is an easy arrest and conviction, going after drug dealers requires actual work.

[tehmonkey]

(Original post by Rhadamanthus)
This is Dorset Police we're talking about. The most serious crime I remember hearing about here was someone stealing a chip and pin machine from the pub.

Weymouth had a murder recently! However it did make front page of the Dorset Echo, which says it all really, they even blurred out the guys face which in this instant seems almost pointless but I guess illegal not to.

Not sure if this has been mentioned but didn't the guy also post a threatening video, threatening to kill another person on twitter?