[governance] UK 'too heavy-handed' with Twitter and online trolls

[Riaz K Tayob]

  UK 'too heavy-handed' with Twitter and online trolls
  <http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/19269353>

Page last updated at 06:00 GMT, Monday, 20 August 2012 07:00 UK

Declan Harvey By Declan Harvey
Newsbeat reporter

Police and prosecutors in the UK are accused of being "incredibly 
heavy-handed" when dealing with online trolls and abusive messages.

It follows several cases where young people have been arrested, fined or 
jailed after posting insulting comments on their Twitter and Facebook 
accounts.

Campaign groups and experts from Oxford University say the punishments 
are heavier than in other countries.

But police insist if a law is broken they will take action.

Freedom of speech

Three weeks ago Olympic bronze medallist Tom Daley received a message 
about his dad, who died last year.

Following that a 17-year-old was arrested in Weymouth.


    Heavy-handed policing?

Continue reading the main story 
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/19269353#skip_feature_02>

  * Liam Stacey, 21, (above) was sentenced to 56 days for "racist"
    tweets about footballer Fabrice Muamba
  * Paul Chambers, 28, was fined £1,000 for tweeting "joke" about
    blowing up airport in Sheffield. The verdict was overturned in June 2012
  * Joshua Cryer, 21, was sentenced to a two-year community order and
    240 hours unpaid work for racist tweets to Stan Collymore

His computer and phone were seized and he was given a harassment 
warning, which will stay on his record.

The UK is one of the world's top tweeting countries along with Japan, 
Spain and the US.

Lucia lives in Valladolid in Spain and says: "I don't think these 
comments are good but I don't think people should go to jail. In Spain 
it's not happened."

Miyu, from Japan, called the UK's approach "surprising" and says: "It's 
difficult, but I think being arrested is too serious because it's [only] 
Twitter."

Laura from Washington DC believes it would never happen in the US 
because they "emphasis freedom of speech, which I think is important. 
It's translated over to Twitter as well".

Official figures showing how many arrests have been made over online 
comments don't exist.

Instead police record arrests under different categories depending on 
what is posted.

For example, it could be incitement to racial hatred or harassment.

*H**eavy**-**handed*

Bernie Hogan from the Oxford Internet Institute monitors what happens in 
other countries.

Lucia from Spain does not think internet trolls should be sent to jail

He said that although the UK was "leading the way" in cracking down on 
this type of online abuse, by comparison "we are incredibly heavy-handed".

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) disagrees.

In a statement is says: "People have a right to publish their views but 
when these views become indecent, threatening or offensive then the 
individuals they affect also have the right to report them.

"The police will assist with any prosecution."

The Campaign Against Censorship says often a joke or sarcasm is misread, 
especially when people only have 140 characters.

Index, which campaigns for freedom of expression, say the cases are 
"silly" and the police only pursues them because they are "easy 
prosecutions".

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