Brickbat: In the Swim

British police have arrested a 17-year-old boy, who wasn't named by media, on suspicion of malicious communications. The arrest resulted from a Twitter message sent to diver Tom Daley after he and his partner finished fourth in the men's synchronized diving at the Olympics. The message accused Daley of letting down his father, who died last year from cancer. The Twitter user later apologized at least twice. But someone reported his initial remark to police.

Brickbat Archive

Comments

[Res Publica Americana]

Wow. Nuke Britain from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

[Whiterun Guard]

Meh, it's Britain, they know they're subject, they should act like it.

I just wish they'd have arrested Morrissey for sedition yesterday.

[Whiterun Guard]

That is a great picture, I'll be in my bunk.

[Copernicus]

I think "BangsHeadOnDesk" should be allowed to post that picture as his/her avatar.

[Dagny T.]

I like how the BBC article only briefly and matter-of-factly notes that the kid got arrested for basically being an alleged internet troll, then moves on to discuss in detail what else happened on Twitter. Yikes.

[Whiterun Guard]

Twitter is big news now. No research required and it's easy to copy AMPERSAND paste. I'm sure there's a few journalism classes focused solely on using it in articles now.

[Dagny T.]

Not only that, but apparently the idea that it is OK to arrest people who may have hurt other people's feelings is so widely accepted that all the BBC felt was required was to tell us that some other people were Tweeting that it was a mean thing to say. Both the UK and journalism in general are so screwed.

[RBS]

it is OK to arrest people who may have hurt other people's feelings

I almost cracked up in court yesterday when the Dept. of Juvenile Justice lady said one this kids previous charges was harassment because of something mean he wrote on his myspace page. Of course it was no longer funny when the kids mom argued that DJJ has done a better job of taking care of her kid than she has and should therefore continue taking care of him.

[some guy]

Myspace page? How long ago was this "previous charge?"

Also, how long until the Hipsters revive Myspace?

[Proprietist]

Honestly, I miss Myspace to some degree. They let some of the customizations get way out of control and by the last few times I've tried to use it, it has become almost totally unusable. Facebook's virtue is it's simplicity and consistent format. But as a musician, Myspace was infinitely more useful than Facebook.

[Fist of Etiquette]

On The Newsroom, in that infamous clip from the pilot episode, Sorkin argued through his protagonist that plenty of other countries have the same freedoms Americans enjoy. Britain was included in the list he rattles off.

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

Considering how far the wings of freedom have been clipped (some may argue "lopped off") in the US, I know it doesn't take me long to list the countries that enjoy "the same freedoms" we do.

And my list does not include Once-Great Britain. Nor any other country, for that matter. Short list.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yeah, but on speech issues I think the good ol' You Ess of Eh has been doing relatively and remarkably well.

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

I'm agreeing. The US is in a category n=1 when it comes to freedoms.

Esp those related to Constitutional Amendments 1 and 2.

I do not include Britain - or any other country - as on the same planet (er...not literally!) in terms of teh freedumz.

As you were.

[VG Zaytsev]

Sorkin thinks Freedom means getting free stuff.

[Res Publica Americana]

He's a pinko retard suffering from French-esque AMERICA IS LE PURITANICAL RAY-SEEST CONT-UH-REE WEE WEE MISS-YEAR disease. Up is down. Left is right. Water's dry.

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

Couple things:

1) Holy CRAP, I had to double check to make sure this wasn't a modest proposal. Well done, and +1 internets to you, Mr. Sullum.

2) Any person who wants to purchase a gun is clearly dangerous, and, therefore should not be permitted to own a gun. QED. Problem solved.

I don't know why everyone's making this so hard.

[Bee Tagger]

Leave it to the evil twin to embarrass the good twin by posting a comment on the wrong post.

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

I know, right?

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

Also, I'll go post this at the proper article.

WTF, skwerlz??

[PS]

Actually, I think he was arrested for this threatening tweet: "i'm going to find you and i'm going to drown you in the pool you cocky twat your a nobody people like you make me sick."

From the Guardian.

I still think it's an overreaction but not quite what it was originally made out to be.

[Whiterun Guard]

Were they going to arrest him for the grammar in that tweet? I'd be all for that.

[PS]

First they came for Ohio Orrin, and I didn't say anything because he was a obnoxious twat...

[some guy]

At what point do threats become so ridiculous they are no longer threats? If I "threatened" to launch someone into the sun, would I be arrested even though it's obvious I have no means of carrying out the threat?

Yes, I believe this kid has about as much chance of drowning an Olympic athlete as I have of launching one into the sun.

[Rich]

You still don't get it, some guy.

The *ability* to carry out the threat has nothing to do with it. The crime is the thought itself.

[PS]

Also, it's a public threat, like saying you want to kill someone on a talk show, hence not really to be taken seriously.

[Res Publica Americana]

You'd better become the president there and freaking make sure Czechia doesn't contract Eurotard Syndrome. Leave the EU and nuke France, or something, because continent-wide infection would be a tragedy.

[PS]

Actually, I can't be sure things aren't any different here, maybe I'm just unaware.

[Whiterun Guard]

Also also random enforcement is part of the package. If we enforce laws according to logical rules, people can figure out how to not break them.

If we enforce them arbitrarily, no one will know when or what we're coming to get them for.

[some guy]

I think they're doing pretty well on the arbitrarity score. I'm sure "malicious communication" is intentionally vague. What they really mean is that he was arrested on suspicion of "unapproved action."

[Kaptious Kristen]

Good thing Die Hipster doesn't operate in the UK. That dude would have been in PPMITA* royal prison within seconds!

(Politely Pound Me in the Ass, guv'na)

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

CAPTION[S]:

1) "You must become one with the diving board...."

2) "Doris soon realized that trying a Vulcan Mind Meld? with the board was probably not a good idea..."

[Mr. FIFY]

Mister Tibbs busted this kid in Britain?