Police arrest teenager over Tom Daley Twitter abuse

[dandarez]

Tweet sums it up. Tweeting is for twits.

All a sign of the times.
Daly should have ignored it and not responded although I can understand his anger.

More column inches for a story about 'words', regardless of whether threatening or not, than the Ice Cream seller in Essex who virtually had his arm severed by thugs - on a beach in Grays in full view of sunbathers.

Ice Cream Wars, eh? Sign of the times.

http://www.hornseyjournal.co.uk/news/crime-court/t...

[P-Jay]

robmlufc said:

Pornhub is extreme porn? really? There was more extreme vhs videos floating about back in the day at school.

Sorry for taking it OT.

There's a guy waiting to go to trial over an e-mail he received which included a video which featured anal fisting as it's considered extreme pron as it could cause extreme injury - I'm told (cough cough) that sort of thing is freely available on that site. It's also one of the sites that lead to viewers getting legal threats from pron makers for copy write infringement.

http://obscenitylawyer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/porn...

Edited by P-Jay on Tuesday 31st July 13:07

[Megaflow]

Use Psychology said:

Megaflow said:

For being a weapons grade...

Seriously though, what on earth did he think gave the right to even think about making a comment like that, leave alone committing it to text.

probably the same thing that gives you the right to write what you wrote there.

Sorry, the two are not even close to the same. I made a light hearted joke, which very few outside of Pistonheads would even understand, the clue to the joke is the word seriously.

Also, no where did I make a sick comment about letting down somebody's dead father and threaten to kill anybody.

There is freedom of speach and then there is being a down right abbusive little turd.

ETA: What is going on with the quoting, it shows up in preivew fine... very odd.

[Marf]

People(intentionally?) seem to overlook the fact that he's free to say whatever he likes and that the Police are free to interpret his nonsense through the eyes of the law and take action where necessary.

Police have done the right thing IMO, vile little st.

[LiamB]

Erm.. this made me laugh. More than it should have.

I found a video, it is very NSFW. Take that as a warning.

This is the Riley_69 fella that has been arrested. Utter scumbag.

Remember; NSFW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHA4Gc9PRtA

[Marf]

What a lovely young man.

[Terminator X]

Gotta love this, the Police weren't interested in the slightest when some fker scammed my credit card yet they've got plenty of time to chase up "twitter abuse" ... ffs

TX.

[Iceman82]

LiamB said:

Erm..

I found a video, it is very NSFW. Take that as a warning.

This is the Riley_69 fella that has been arrested. Utter scumbag.

Remember; NSFW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHA4Gc9PRtA

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with some people?

Does he really think this makes him "hard" or gains him any sort of respect?

What an absolute muppet.

[CHIEF]

Jobbo said:

CHIEF said:

But it worries me where this whole Twitter, Facebook malarky is going, where you say something over the top then the next thing you know the police are kicking your door down at 6am in the morning.

Don't say something over the top, then. If you have a heated argument with someone in the pub, it's just spoken word; forgotten next day. If you publish something in writing to the world at large, expect it to have repercussions, same as if it was printed in a newspaper.

But where does it end?

There has to be a point I agree but there is probably 'stuff' that has been said by people on Pistonheads in the heat of the moment over the years that could possibly lead to arrest in this day and age had the mods not stepped in and taken action.

Whilst this lad is a complete dhead and deserves everything he gets will it get to the point where people are scared of being controversial and outspoken on the net through fear of reprisals?

[Marf]

Iceman82 said:

LiamB said:

Erm..

I found a video, it is very NSFW. Take that as a warning.

This is the Riley_69 fella that has been arrested. Utter scumbag.

Remember; NSFW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHA4Gc9PRtA

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with some people?

Does he really think this makes him "hard" or gains him any sort of respect?

What an absolute muppet.

Serious inferiority complex going on there.

[Use Psychology]

this is worth ready: http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.co.uk/

[schmalex]

CHIEF said:

But where does it end?

There has to be a point I agree but there is probably 'stuff' that has been said by people on Pistonheads in the heat of the moment over the years that could possibly lead to arrest in this day and age had the mods not stepped in and taken action.

Whilst this lad is a complete dhead and deserves everything he gets will it get to the point where people are scared of being controversial and outspoken on the net through fear of reprisals?

There is a world of difference between being controversial and outspoken (which absolutely should be encouraged) and continuously posting vile, threatening vitriol. The odious little gisp in question didn't just post one or two comments in the heat of a moment. He was insulting, threating and abusing people many times a minute.

[wiggy001]

While the guy is obviously a cretin of the highest order, I don't like the idea of the police arresting people for making what are obviously childish statements and threats with no real plausibility.

The fact is, Daley has the option of blocking this guy which he may or may not have done. If he hasn't, then he has no reason to complain imho. If he has then he can simply ignore this guy's comments as he won't even see them unless he goes looking.

At school, these comments would have been ignored in the playground or a teacher would tell this idiot to grow up and, if it continued, take his priviledges away. The same level of response is appropriate here - ignore him and, if it continues, delete his account.

Twitter is the online equivalent of spoken word in my opinion and should be treated as such.

I once mistakenly went shopping in Asda and heard a mother shouting "Get back here you little , I'm gonna bloody kill you" at her teenage son. My first thought was not to call the police, or even that this was a real threat. Same here.

[Marf]

So basically stick your head in the sand and ignore his threatening racist language? Good call.

[0a]

The kid will be released and go running home to mummy, he won't do it again.

[Eric Mc]

wiggy001 said:

Twitter is the online equivalent of spoken word in my opinion and should be treated as such.

It can't be - because it is broadcast on a much vaster scale and becomes a stored record in perpetuity. Comments may be made on Twitter by the poster EXPECTING them to be as throw away as a school yard insult or a pub argument - but sadly for the poster they aren't. In nature, they are much more akin to a published or broadcast statement and will be taken by the target of the comment - especially any legal representatives they may appoint - in that light.

Those who use electronic social media had better cop on pretty quickly that they are not in the school yard or the pub and adjust their behaviour accordingly.

[mattnunn]

wiggy001 said:

While the guy is obviously a cretin of the highest order, I don't like the idea of the police arresting people for making what are obviously childish statements and threats with no real plausibility.

The fact is, Daley has the option of blocking this guy which he may or may not have done. If he hasn't, then he has no reason to complain imho. If he has then he can simply ignore this guy's comments as he won't even see them unless he goes looking.

At school, these comments would have been ignored in the playground or a teacher would tell this idiot to grow up and, if it continued, take his priviledges away. The same level of response is appropriate here - ignore him and, if it continues, delete his account.

Twitter is the online equivalent of spoken word in my opinion and should be treated as such.

I once mistakenly went shopping in Asda and heard a mother shouting "Get back here you little , I'm gonna bloody kill you" at her teenage son. My first thought was not to call the police, or even that this was a real threat. Same here.

You're wrong.

Firstly twitter, facebook and the like are not equivalent to the spoken word, they are publishing, it's a permanant record available for all to see, secondly the reason libel and slander are disjointed in law is that the written word takes a greater amount of premeditation, i.e it is easier to loose ones temper and mouth off, the distance between brain and mouth being relatively small. The effort needed to publish the written word is higher and hence a greater availability of foresight and self control is expected.

Also blocking users in this new social media rarely helps due to the ease of which new identities and pseudonyms can be created, really no point in blocking a stalker or troll, you have to take them out.

If you can't see how different your example is to the case in question you need to think a bit harder, I would have thought excessive use of the C word in a public place is enough to get the police involved on a public order charge.

HTH

[don4l]

wiggy001 said:

At school, these comments would have been ignored in the playground or a teacher would tell this idiot to grow up and, if it continued, take his priviledges away.

I don't think that you have seen his racist comments. They would never be tolerated in the playground.


Don
--

[mattviatura]

I honestly can't make my mind up about this. While I immensely dislike the whole attention whoring thing going on with Twitter and I don't understand celebrity worship I can't help but feel Tom Daley may just have taken another potential Kiaran Stapleton off the streets.

Sad situation all round.

[robmlufc]

Use Psychology said:

this is worth ready: http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.co.uk/

Good read and a much more balanced viewpoint. Shows the mob mentality and how most involved were just as bad as the lad who has been arrested!!