Your rights end where my feelings begin

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

For all the outrage that is expressed here over what people say on the internet, no one here would advocate legal action, right?



The Daily Mail and Telegraph said that Stacey was guilty of "racially aggravated harassment". The Guardian said the charge was "incitement to racial hatred", then altered its website to say he "pleaded guilty to the Racially Aggravated s4A Public Order Act 1986" (which is a hard phrase to understand grammatically, never mind legally – can you plead guilty to an Act?).

ITV, perhaps confused and wanting to cover all bases, said Stacey's crime was "racially aggravated harassment and disorder".

Well, which is it?

I've found the tweets, after quite some scrabbling in the bowels of the internet, and they weren't harassment. Having some faith in the law, but a greater faith in the OED, I know that "harassment" must involve pestering someone repeatedly or persistently. Stacey tweeted five or six people, but only once each.

Incitement? No. Disorder? Not in the context of the internet, but we'll come to that.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/08/victoria-coren-liam-stacey-tweets

Some of the tweets in question: http://imgur.com/aUjzT

This is one of those times where I'm glad to be in America. I know that Europe has a rich history of bad things resulting from free speech, so I can understand Germany's zero tolerance policy on Nazism and Nazi paraphernalia, but let's get real here. This is where we need to draw the line between what's morally acceptable and what's legally acceptable. For all the hate we dispense on Westboro, PETA, and Scientology, the other side of the coin is this.

When people throw away their anonymity, what constitutes going 'too far' with just words?

Comments

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Hehe, tell a UKanian that they're in Europe. You'll be rewarded with a stare. ;-)

[rasilio.livejournal.com]

"For all the outrage that is expressed here over what people say on the internet, no one here would advocate legal action, right?

I wouldn't be so sure about that (http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2012/04/arizona_legislature_apparently.php)

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

There is a lot of that going on in the EU. It is especially sad when you see it in the UK or the Netherlands, once bastions of free speech and inquiry. There are also those pesky Canadian Human Rights Commissions up north.

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

I must say that the guy's literary style leaves much to be desired. Prison is not as appropriate as some good old fashioned remedial education.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

http://news.cnet.com/2010-1028-6022491.html

[kayjayuu.livejournal.com]

This is where it all leads. But what do I know, I'm just a libertarian. *shrugs*

[lyssna.livejournal.com]

This is one of those times where I'm glad to be in America.

To be fair, there is no "Europe" in this case, just a bunch of different countries with very different attitudes.

I can't say that I have ever felt this slope to be more slippery in my corner of this Uncivilized Continent. Just the fact that you can swear on TV without being fined by the government here...

[terminator44.livejournal.com]

To be fair, there is no "Europe" in this case, just a bunch of different countries with very different attitudes.

Brussels is working on that. Give it time.

[jerseycajun.livejournal.com]

I don't know why, but your link redirects me right back to this page.

[jerseycajun.livejournal.com]

Sorry, it's Firefox. Anyone else having more problems with the current release lately?

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

That's what the link is to, in ff and ie.

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

works fine in chrome

[jerseycajun.livejournal.com]

Now I get it, it's just that in FF, it was reloading the page and not expanding the text.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

I'm using FF too, and I'm using that new spoiler thingy. Works fine for me.

[jerseycajun.livejournal.com]

Now it's working, and I don't know what caused the problem. Could be the page loaded wrong the first couple of times. The internet in the afternoon gets slow and buggy thanks to HughesNet, and for some reason LJ is affected adversely more so than other sites.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

I assume when Russia took it over they replaced all the servers with a battery that heats up borsht.

[jerseycajun.livejournal.com]

Are those potato batteries (http://www.google.com/search?q=Potato+Battery&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=S5m&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=pqGDT6L1O46e8gTYt5SlCA&ved=0CDUQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=623)?

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

I'm not real sure what this post is about, as LJ mobile isn't displaying any images, videos, or links. But for me: no. No restrictions on individual speech unless it is actually libel, slander, perjury, or fighting words, and thus no basis for legal action except in those cases.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

Them's fightin' words to me... put up your dukes.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

I think if you look at the comments to Victoria's article you'll find most British folk of whatever colour or creed agreed that's this particular case didn't warrant imprisonment, and prison was something of a knee-jerk reaction on the part of the magistrate.

It's a pretty pass when one looks back to John Major's administration for the last decent British government. Since then we have had Bliar, Broon, and now Cameroon. Bliar is a war criminal; Broon, though economically adept, was an unelectable bully; and Cameroon, who should know better, is trashing the NHS, stalling any economic recovery, and providing the UK with even more socially divisive policies than the Thatcher woman. And none of 'em cared much about individual rights when in office.

Sod them all. Wish we still had Supermac, actually.