Watch what you say about the shooting on Social Media - You can be prosecuted.

Should people who spread falsehoods about Newtown shooting be prosecuted?

At a news conference Sunday, Connecticut State Police warned about misinformation about the school shooting in Newtown being spread over social media and said those spreading falsehoods could be prosecuted under the law.

While I think this should apply, and be enforced, to journalists (As it often isn't)... I'm not sure how I feel about criminalizing bad information online. Although it does raise a good point about people who are trying to capitalize off of news events and spin them into their own deluded stories.

The 2012 fad comes to mind as well...

"There has been misinformation coming from people posing as the shooter in this case, posing using other IDs, mimicking this crime scene and criminal activity that took place in his community," he said.

"These issues are crimes. They will be investigated, statewide and federally, and prosecutions will take place when people perpetrating this information are identified," said Vance.

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Some of the misinformation came from the mainstream media as reporters tried to get details of the case even before police had a chance to complete a preliminary investigation.

And some of it was simply fabrication originating in social media itself.

www.cbc.ca...

There have been some cases in recent years encouraging vigilante justice on people who were never proven to be guilty of anything. Social Media is a powerful tool, but I think the thing that gives it its power is people's penchant to see something online and take it for truth without even back referencing the information, or blinding believing anything they see in print.

It's people's own faults of being misdirected that leads them to be...

there has been umpteen threads on this today.

Originally posted by shaneslaughta
there has been umpteen threads on this today.

My apologies, I've been distracted with other things, I saw a multitude of threads on the subject, but didn't see any on the prosecution of comments on it...

Since it was already covered. I leave you with a dancing bear: