Trolls --- You have been warned!

[vololiberista 205]

 Seems like if someone in the UK does not like what you typed you can go to jail for speaking your mind, or at least this is what I have seen from that article.

 

 

No its not about speaking your mind. If I say something bad about someone that is true then that's fine. But if I slander and libel someone by any means that against the law. If I continue unabated in such a vein then that is harassment or even stalking. If I unjustifiably foment hatred against someone then that also is against the law.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

The article is about UK law not US, perhaps you should read the article

That would be why I specifically said "In the USA" though even in the UK, your malicious communications act covers much of this already.

[Spartan0536 49]

No its not about speaking your mind. If I say something bad about someone that is true then that's fine. But if I slander and libel someone by any means that against the law. If I continue unabated in such a vein then that is harassment or even stalking. If I unjustifiably foment hatred against someone then that also is against the law.

 

Slander in the US is also illegal however proving that what someone said is slanderous can be quite a legal undertaking and its generally not criminal unless warranted by other actions (I am no legal expert/lawyer) this is just what I have learned over the years. I also wonder just how strictly this new punishment will be upheld though (I am not talking about the enforcement of the law, just the sentencing aspect of it).

[yidahoo 365]

NT

[gfd 15]

Hey Spartan,

 

I am Canadian, but I think Europeans are more sophisticated when it comes to crime and punishment. I think there is a bigger redemption component in their justice system. We're mostly about retribution. Please correct me if I'm off base.

 

This is a very hard subject. On the one hand, we don't want our freedom limited. But what about the families of kids who committed suicide because somebody decided to circulate humiliating material? To me, that's manslaughter. To the justice system, unfortunately it probably isn't. But how do you effectively punish people such as they?

 

 

Graham

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Seems like if someone in the UK does not like what you typed you can go to jail for speaking your mind, or at least this is what I have seen from that article.

 

Its already happened in a way. A teen in the UK was arrested for essentially being the type of  total jerk you can find a thousand examples of without even trying on a daily basis. Which goes back to what I said about broad laws open to interpretation and having to put half the internet in jail. Wheres the definitive line between a obnoxious jerk and a crime?

 

Wherever an individual prosecutor thinks it is? If a person is being specifically targeted in a particularly egregious way, there are already laws, even in the UK.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/jul/31/teenager-arrested-tweets-tom-daley

[Stonelove 2]

Yeah well it seems that if the middle class people are abused then they are quick to stamp on it but they make a load excuses or totally ignore nuisance antisocial neighbours making people's life's hell. People in those situation are identified as low class.

I know a number of people going through it with great stress. If they want help they have to amass tons of proof that could take years, then they have to bring it to court in private prosecutions.

 

Always a politician there looking after the middle classes.

[Spartan0536 49]

Hey Spartan,

 

I am Canadian, but I think Europeans are more sophisticated when it comes to crime and punishment. I think there is a bigger redemption component in their justice system. We're mostly about retribution. Please correct me if I'm off base.

 

This is a very hard subject. On the one hand, we don't want our freedom limited. But what about the families of kids who committed suicide because somebody decided to circulate humiliating material? To me, that's manslaughter. To the justice system, unfortunately it probably isn't. But how do you effectively punish people such as they?

 

 

Graham

 

I follow what you are saying and quite honestly there is no clear cut answer that will work in our world, it might work on paper but paper is just that. My biggest concern here in the US at least is that once you have a criminal record, getting back on your feet is supposedly harder than taking a Cessna 172 up in the middle of the day during the summer in Phoenix Arizona.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

I follow what you are saying and quite honestly there is no clear cut answer that will work in our world, it might work on paper but paper is just that.

 

It can also be a slippery slope. I don't support bullying obviously, but I also don't support incremental steps that if not considered very carefully can and have (in some countries) eventually inched towards broader and broader government control of speech of all sorts.

 

 

[sascha 314]

 

 

Anything rising to the level of a true crime is already covered under other laws! (for instance, harassment laws)

 

I lean towards your point of view.

[wiltzei 15]

This is what what is called "closing the gap" in complexity analysis theory, the system is more complex than the governor

[z06z33 763]

Hey Spartan,

 

I am Canadian, but I think Europeans are more sophisticated when it comes to crime and punishment. I think there is a bigger redemption component in their justice system. We're mostly about retribution. Please correct me if I'm off base.

 

This is a very hard subject. On the one hand, we don't want our freedom limited. But what about the families of kids who committed suicide because somebody decided to circulate humiliating material? To me, that's manslaughter. To the justice system, unfortunately it probably isn't. But how do you effectively punish people such as they?

 

 

Graham

I was picked on when I started high school and had some rumors spread about me,I went to teachers and it solved nothing in fact it made it worse. so I took matters into my own hands and caught the guy who started all the bs in the hall after i was finished with him the rumors and bullying stopped and the rest of my time in high school was fun. This law will solve exactly what telling the teachers did NOTHING. The only way to stop a bully is to stand up to them. I never understood the whole killing yourself because you were bullied to me its very short sighted to end your life over a temporary that can be solved.

[vololiberista 205]

 

It can also be a slippery slope. I don't support bullying obviously, but I also don't support incremental steps that if not considered very carefully can and have (in some countries) eventually inched towards broader and broader government control of speech of all sorts.

 

 

Big Brother has been watching you for a very long time already!

[mgh 89]

 

 

at least this is what I have seen from that article.

 

Then you misinterpreted the article.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Big Brother has been watching you for a very long time already!

 

And people and organizations worldwide fight hard to push back against that. Not every problem requires a rash of flashy but sometimes not very well thought out new legislation.

 

We're are drifting off subject a bit (as open conversations tend to do) but when I was a kid, the world depicted in the book 1984 was considered to be an undesirable one. Has that changed?