It is now illegal to joke on the interwebs.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 12:35 pm

As some of you may have heard, our lovely judicial system yesterday upheld a conviction against somebody for making an off-the-cuff gag on Twitter about blowing up an airport if he wasn't able to make his flight the next week.

Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!

Police actually came to the guy's workplace and arrested him.

Also yesterday, a councillor (an actual member of local authority and a paid up member of the Tory party) was arrested after listening to so somebody on the radio talking about human rights abuses and Tweeting:

Can someone please stone Yasmin Alibhai-Brown to death? I shan't tell Amnesty if you don't. It would be a blessing, really.

Regardless of whether you believe this now means it's illegal to be English, it seems now that the internet really is Serious Business and we can all be arrested for absolutely anything we post, regardless of context.

Everybody hide Cliffy!

#iamspartacus

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 12:46 pm

These wankers deserve a damn good nail-bombing.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 1:18 pm

As It Occurs to Me had a wonderful lengthy skit about the stupidity of the Robin Hood (crap name for an airport by the way, at least John Lennon was both real and from Liverpool even if he was a twat. About all anyone can agree about Robin Hood is that the person/people he was based on weren't from anywhere near Nottingham...) thing at the time it happened. "I'm going to blow up Robin Hood airport.. in the same way the big bad wolf tried to blow up the three little pigs houses. Balls in your court CPS".

If everything said on the internet is to be automatically taken as true does that mean Stephen Fry was right all along and women don't like sex after all?

SPOILER! (select to read)
Not that we care either way, right lads?

Post by **Sades** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 4:42 pm

What's Twitter?

Post by **Hound** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 5:40 pm

You guys don't have freedom of speech over there?

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 6:51 pm

Hound wrote:You guys don't have freedom of speech over there?

Sacrifices have to be made, what with all these terrorists announcing their next fiendish evil plots on social networking sites every such comment has to be fully investigated.

Post by **Hound** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 7:39 pm

This is how V for Vendetta starts...

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 8:07 pm

I thought it started with Evey going out on the game?

Post by **Hound** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 11:34 pm

Umm, I forget. It's been several years and I'm old...

Summerhayes · Post by **Summerhayes** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 11:41 pm

Isn't it a layer of cake with a layer of ice cream?

Back on topic; on the one hand, there's a difference between letting people speak out freely and ignoring it when people mention that they're gonna bomb somewhere.
On the other hand, most of these arrests are based on utterly ridiculous misinterpretations and overreactions.
Recently the police where I live shut down two roads and were patrolling the roads with rifles and dogs and that because someone thretend his neighbour with a gold BB Gun.

Rurudyne · Post by **Rurudyne** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 5:04 am

I'm sure there are some folks who think my jokes should be illegal....

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 5:41 am

I don't think any jokes should be illegal. Yours, however, are just shit.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 12:11 pm

Hound wrote:You guys don't have freedom of speech over there?

You have the right to free speech as long as you're not dumb enough to actually try it. [/public service announcement with guitars]

From what I understand, the legislation used to prosecute the guy was a law originally brought in to prevent nuisance/threatenting calls to call centre girls back before we had civilisation.

The judge in the case actually had to have the notion of Twitter explained to him. If you don't know what Twitter is, you shouldn't be presiding over a trial about remarks made on it. That's on a par with making somebody like Hound a mod here.

Wildrider · Post by **Wildrider** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 3:34 pm

Curious, the politician's tweet I think is in dubious taste, the bomb airport guy less so, people need to realise you need to use smileys more! Otherwise it all goes to cock.

But if bad taste was a crime, then we'd have no Chris Morris, or 90% of the current crop of 'comedians'.

I was watching Sky news and some legal boffin made the argument is that as a public broadcast, under English law, it can be prosecuted as libel, or something. IN both instances, didn't the offenders accidentally broadcast the offending tweets to the general, rather than in their own private circle?

I've never used twitter so have no real clue how it all works, but by this definition of libellous broadcasting, doesn't that make every clown with a blog open to prosecution?

I'm just indifferent really, although in unrelated news there was a victory for common sense after a local council here in the U.K. decided, under public pressure, not to change Gingerbread Man to Gingerbread Person. Gender confectionery in political correctness shocker!

Now all we need to do is throw some students off the top of a building, trash some common rooms and burn a few copies of 'Catcher in the Rye' and England can sleep in peace again.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 4:54 pm

Wildrider wrote: Now all we need to do is throw some students off the top of a building

I'm so reporting you to the police for plotting murder.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:58 pm

Wildrider wrote:people need to realise you need to use smileys more!

I'd rather be prosecuted than turn into the type of twat who puts "j/k", "lol" or that winky smiley at the end of every ****ing message.

Rurudyne · Post by **Rurudyne** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:27 am

Cliffjumper wrote:I don't think any jokes should be illegal. Yours, however, are just shit.

Hey, I never said I was Henny Youngman.

Or Harry Wiseman for what that's worth.

Though, in all fairness, he was more of a song and dance man.

Post by **Denyer** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 9:33 am

Hound wrote:You guys don't have freedom of speech over there?

We're copying you guys again, sadly. Free speech as an official line, but mention anything sensitive (like wanting to continue the tradition of removing presidents from office with lead/explosives) and you roll the dice.

Summerhayes · Post by **Summerhayes** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 2:51 pm

Halfshell wrote:I'd rather be prosecuted than turn into the type of twat who puts "j/k", "lol" or that winky smiley at the end of every ****ing message.

I remember watching a news report from the birth of the internet, explaining the concept.

"you put a little smiling 'e-moticon' when you are joking and a frowning face when you're being serious"
Cut to reporter sat at a massive grey computer carefully typing

and

with one finger.

It then went on to explain how the internet would revolutionise intellectual conversation with people all over the world bashing out great thoughts on important subjects.
And here we are, proving that prediction true.

Sir Auros · Post by **Sir Auros** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 12:02 am

Rurudyne wrote:I'm sure there are some folks who think my jokes should be illegal....

I wasn't aware you were telling jokes. You must be in some deep-cover Andy Kaufman routine.