Jail for this? "Seriously go kill yourself!" "I’d do a lot worse things than rape you."

[aGameOfThrones]

A British man and woman who sent abusive tweets have been jailed. 25-year-old John Nimmo and 23-year-old Isabella Sorley both pleaded guilty to the offence of "improper use of a public electronic communications network" earlier this month after being charged last month. Both have been sentenced to jail time this week. The pair took to Twitter to send abusive tweets following the Bank of England’s decision to put novelist Jane Austen on a £10 note. Journalist and activist Caroline Criado-Perez led a successful campaign to get more women on British currency, and faced up to 50 abusive and threatening tweets per hour as a result.

Nimmo, sentenced to eight weeks in jail, admitted to posting 20 tweets using five different accounts. Some of the abuse, directed at Criado-Perez and Labour politician Stella Creasy, included threats like "rape her nice ass" and "I will find you," alongside insults like "dumb blond bitch." Sorley, sentenced to 12 weeks in jail, also admitted to posting 16 tweets related to the new £10 note. "Seriously go kill yourself! I will get less time for that," read one, while another said "I’d do a lot worse things than rape you."

While the case serves as a warning to Twitter users sending abuse on the social network, many called on Twitter to make it easier to report abusive messages on the service following the incident last July. Twitter responded acknowledging the issue of threatening tweets, and updated its apps and website to allow users to report individual tweets for abuse or spam.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/25/5344152/twitter-rape-threats-land-uk-pair-in-jail

[Intoxiklown]

Isn't that basically stalking, and making threats?

I understand what you're saying, but come on dude....."I'll find you. I'll rape you."

Look at it like the laws here in the US. If you tell me you're going to kill me, and I report this threat (whether you actually meant it or not) to my sheriff, and you step one foot on my property, or even find yourself in my general vicinity, I can pretty much get away with shooting you so many times I have to stop and reload a few times.

[MelissaWV]

Isn't that basically stalking, and making threats?

I understand what you're saying, but come on dude....."I'll find you. I'll rape you."

Look at it like the laws here in the US. If you tell me you're going to kill me, and I report this threat (whether you actually meant it or not) to my sheriff, and you step one foot on my property, or even find yourself in my general vicinity, I can pretty much get away with shooting you so many times I have to stop and reload a few times.

Bolded the important part. You should not be able to face punishment for saying crude things to someone. Being on my property if it is clearly designated as such, is trespassing. If I know you're the one who's been threatening me, I may decide to take my chances with the jury's sympathies and do precisely as you said; depending on the state I might not even need that much.


Journalist and activist Caroline Criado-Perez led a successful campaign to get more women on British currency, and faced up to 50 abusive and threatening tweets per hour as a result.

This guy was not responsible for even the bulk of the Tweets. It appears many others are getting away with it. Hell, on RPFs alone there are plenty of people telling each other where to stick or at what temperature to burn in hell. It's not very nice, but this is really what people need to be put in jail for? More importantly, this is how thin-skinned people are? THIS bothers people, but they can put dozens of real atrocities out of mind when it suits them.

A damned shame, really.

[FindLiberty]

Nasal on Twitter, don't have an account.

[Occam's Banana]

Isn't that basically stalking, and making threats?

I understand what you're saying, but come on dude....."I'll find you. I'll rape you."

Even if these so-called "threats" were credible or serious, wouldn't it be better to know about them than not? After all, "forewarned is forearmed." What sense does it make to drive people to keep their violent intentions secret (assuming they even have such intentions and are not just "mouthing off")?

But of course, none of this has anything at all to do with "protecting" anyone. It's all about controlling what people say and how they say it ...