UK man jailed for trolling:

http://rss.slashdot.org/...ng-a-Jerk-On-the-Internet

All you trolls had better mind your Ps and Qs now. It's 1984 (well, you know what I mean) and Big Brother's a-comin' to get you. :p

Good. That is just horrible he deserves it.

lol. what do i care? i'll tie up the SWAT team for 5 days just by giving them dirty looks. it'll cost you more to arrest me for trolling than my entire existence cost. grow a thicker skin.

Thats the UK, not the US. Here in the US, I'm free to tell Patience to [comment edited by Forum moderator].

Serves the bastard right - I don't really care if you want to be a prick and call names/act like a tough guy....but going out of your way to hurt people like that should at the very least get you a severe ass whooping.

Can't wait to see what the boys in the clink do to him when they find out what he's in for...

a deleted post, or a buggy PSP?

a buggy PSP.

lol... Rockman, I know you love me. :p

Honestly, I agree what he did was despicable. But it's up to the sites to deal with it - not the criminal justice system. Ban him, fine him, make him write bad cheques... but jail time is overkill, IMHO. He didn't cause physical harm, however out of line what he typed was.

100% agreed :)

i didn't read what was linked, but um, Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. your emotions are yours to deal with, not mine.

Without seeing what he was actually charged with and what the actual posts were, I'm guessing that it probably had something to do with undue distress, or verbal assault, which are legitimate crimes for the criminal justice system to become involved in (at least by current definition, right or wrong is a separate debate, of course)

dagga is in jail?

Basically he posted a bunch of crap about a girl who had killed herself by jumping in front of a train, including a graphic of a Thomas the Tank Engine bearing the face of said dead girl. :(

WAYYYYYY out of line, but not punishable by jail time, IMHO.

Bit off topic, but I have no sympathy for those that commit suicide. That said, I do feel sorry for those left behind

He was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome well before this occurred, which is related a little bit to Autism. And one of the characteristics of Aspergers is an inability to have empathy towards other people.

Its really sad that they are giving him jail time for this. Its a little bit like jailing an alcoholic for drinking beer.

well, in 2007 18,361 people were murdered in the US according to the CDC. i thought that was bad, but they also stated that 34k people committed suicide in that year. sumpin is screwy.

can't say I agree with jailing a guy for that...

"is this punishment simply too harsh for someone who perhaps didn't realize how seriously his actions would be taken by the authorities?"

I think this is an important sentence. What he did was bad, yes, but I would think a large percentage of people (including myself) would not realize that such actions could be seen as criminal and even lead to jailtime...

Nonsense

The guy pled guilty, that is an important distinction.

Had he pled not guilty, there is a good chance he would have got off, especially when factoring in his social disorder.

and he broke the golden rule of talking to the po-po without a lawyer...

does this mean no more dagga?

ha!

It's close to jailing an alcohoilc for getting drunk showing up at a funeral and calling the dead person every name in the book before pissing on the corpse.

poor Dibs - he tries his best to be a signature troll, but people still go to Dagga in times like these.

Jail time would never happen in the US. Being an A-hole is first amendment protected speech. Exhibit A: The Westboro Baptist Church.

That's because Dibs knows better, and chooses trolling....I can't say I'm sure of the same w/ Dagga.

.

Even US free speech has some exclusions though...

I would question his representation if the guy had Asperger Syndrome and he still plead guilty to the charges. I don't know the British legal system overly well, other than some basic common law stuff, but it would seem to me that in conjunction with a fairly vague crime would be pretty easy to fight.

Slander laws in the UK make US patent laws look intelligent. The brits are all about not hurting people feelings.

Somehow, that doesn't surprise me in the least.

meh

I fear my pending UK visit.

I'm gonna end up in the pen for trying to recycle my pop can on the wrong day!!!!!!!

nah - just go to one of the parts of London that's one fire 24/7, and you won't have to worry...the Bobbies are too scared to go to those parts of town to bust you :-)

And yet... when I first moved to the UK, I was stunned with how MEAN they were. Seriously. I mean not maliciously, but their normal conversational mannerisms - if you had a big nose, or a wart, or a limp, or whatever, you had better be prepared to hear comments about it every single day of your life. lol It seems to be how they break the ice over there. I was in tears twice in the first week. :p

The more I hear about this situation, the fishier it sounds. Why'd the guy plead guilty, and why would they accept a guilty plea from a diagnosed autistic who apparently confessed without a lawyer present? It just sounds off.

[EDIT: Okay, I just read the Guardian article the original one links to, and now I get it. The guy is a total sociopath who stalked all kinds of Facebook tribute pages and did some much more disturbing stuff than was mentioned in the original article. However - I still think FB should have stepped in to resolve it, and found a way to block him.]

Wait - does he have Aspergers, or was he Autistic? I know it seems like a finite difference, but in the scope of the judicial system, it's a very relevant one. One = incompetent to stand trial in most cases, and one = competent to stand trial in most cases.

Frankly, I hope this leads to a precedent being set in a lot of places. I think the internet can tend to bring out the worst in people, and in a lot of cases it's very easy to cross the line due to the dehumanization of our communication. I'm not saying that anyone who trolls a forum, facebook, or online chat should be locked up. I am just as guilty, if not more so in some cases, of casting the occasional troll - but there have been plenty of documented cases where this type of harassment has very literally ruined lives, and I think there needs to be a recognition of that in judicial systems.

Had someone done the same in a more personal context, they would have very likely faced charges for it, and I don't think that it happening online should make the situation any different. Of course, this particular situation is a bit special, but I am speaking in a much more general sense than any 1 situation.

Some states are already making moves to introduce laws and legislation to curb this issue. In South Carolina, it is illegal to use a Telecommunications Device (e.g. the internet) with Intent to Annoy, Abuse, Threaten or Harass, and I think we will continue to see this trend spread. Obviously, definitions are still rather vague, as last I checked it's not illegal to simply annoy someone - but attempts at structuring these laws are aimed at deterring and punishing extreme cases like this one.

I agree with Patty that it's up to the sites themselves to regulate their users, but at the same time I know that giants like facebook don't have the resources to pay attention to every single user and track their activity. I also know that sites like facebook have to walk a very fine line between allowing free speech, and moderating conversation.

My fear is that in the future, stuff like this will become the cause of suicides rather than the result. There's already been a few instances of it, and there seem to be more and more every year. I don't approve of suicide in any circumstance, but I also don't approve of intentionally and maliciously pushing someone to that point either.

Expect FB to do something useful? Patty living in a dream world!

18 weeks seems harsh and sets a dangerous precedent. A better choice might have been to put him in a room with her friends and family for 10 minutes and let them sort him out.

That's the only way to make him stop. He deserves it.

Shini - I'd agree with you, and actually did at first, except for the fact that the guy has a long history of actions like this. It sounds like the magistrate enforced the maximum sentence because of the extent of the harassment.

Unfortunately, as good as it is, your solution isn't quite legal in most places :-)