Here are a bunch more examples being identified with this
case.
During the Olympics a 17-year-old called Reece Messer sent two unkind tweets to Team GB diver Tom Daley, saying he'd let his recently-deceased
father down by failing to get gold. Tom retweeted the comments to shame his troll into silence, and it caused a storm with people demanding Reece be
barred from tweeting and picking fights with him. He responded by being even more offensive.
Targeted: Tom Daley was the subject of vile Tweets from a teenager with ADHD who appears to have revelled in his notoriety attention
Al Bello
It led to the police raiding Reece's flat, where he lived alone, at 2.45am and hauling him into custody. He was cautioned for harassment and bailed,
and police were expected to look at thousands of other tweets on his account which, by and large, are all offensive to someone, somewhere.
I don't know what to say about these cases. While "trolling" can have an impact on people, throwing someone in jail is just not a comparison. And
while some of the trolling that's been done really crosses the line of what's socially acceptable, at the end of the day you can turn your computer
off, moderate the comment, or simply let it slide.
When you start locking people up for things they say, you start limiting what people say out of fear. I read comments on YT and newspapers daily that
are directed at different races, types of people, etc, that are "abhorrent" in nature (as the judge in this case stated) but none the less, it's
people expressing themselves. Not everyone can mediate their emotions, thoughts, etc.
Largely ignoring them, (if the intent is trolling) is usually a fitting judgement. Don't feed them, as they say...
edit on 21-11-2012 by boncho
because: (no reason given)