Legal warnings to twitterers

Analysis on BBC site:

Clive Coleman
Legal correspondent, BBC News
There is a public misconception that the internet is somehow a free speech zone to which the criminal and civil law does not apply. That is being corrected.

The attorney general has taken action against three men who used Twitter and Facebook to publish photographs purporting to be of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, the murderers of the toddler James Bulger, as grown- ups. They breached a worldwide injunction preventing publication of any material that could identify the two killers.

Last year nine people were prosecuted for posting the name of the woman raped by former Sheffield United footballer Ched Evans, on various social media sites. All nine claimed that they did not know it was a criminal offence to name the victim of a sexual offence. Ignorance was no defence.

Instant publication on the internet can go viral at an astonishing rate but so too can the message that the criminal and civil law applies to it as much as to a considered newspaper article. Education on the law of contempt is likely to spread very rapidly online.

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And absolutely predictably, the  brain-dead, lynch-mobbing numties whine:

Joanne Jeavons
Has anyone seen the news this morning  they will now prosecute people commenting on active cases on fb n twitter ?? What happened to freedom of speech  n wonder how the famo will use this one against people
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Justin Jay Manz Was just about to say.. Until I'm dragged away kicking & punching. I will continue to speak with the free speech I grew up with.

Thereby proving they are utter cretins who shouldn't be allowed anything more demanding than toy typewriters.

It has NEVER been legal to wreck court cases with stupid speculation or the public assumption that the accused are guilty.

All they are demonstrating is that they have NO respect for democracy and the rights of others, or the right to a fair trial.

That they are indeed a lynch mob - and a stupid, ignorant lynch mob at that. But then, lynch mobs always do consist of ignorant bottom-feeders.

That's going to stop them. Isn't it, not.

Yet another tragedy caused by lynch mobbers on social media:

A schoolboy was found dead in his bedroom just days before he was due to give evidence at the trial of a drug dealer.
Tom Acton, 16, died after being falsely accused of raping a girl after tying her to a tree when he stood up against the criminal activity in his neighbourhood of Poynton, Cheshire.
He was attacked in the street, angry youths turned up at his house and targeted on Facebook following the lies that were spread about him.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2517975/Schoolboy-16-dead-falsely-accused-tying-girl-tree-raping-her.html#ixzz2mVHMwm49
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

The numties and similar low-lives really do need to get it into their thick skulls that their thinking is NO different to the scumbag vigilantes who murdered poor, disabled Bijan Ebrahimi.

The only difference is that they haven't put words into action - yet. Though from the sickening death threats on N1 a few days ago, they are more than capable of it.

http://news.sky.com/story/1177543/free-speech-tweeters-arent-superheroes

Free Speech Tweeters 'Aren't Superheroes'
A plan to show warnings about court cases on social media sites is met with a backlash, but web users are not above the law.

Niall Paterson
Media and Technology Correspondent
More from Niall | Follow Niall on Twitter
Portrait of Niall Paterson
One hopes the Attorney General has a thick skin, or that he pays little heed to what is said about him on social media.

"Can't help but think Dominic Grieve is having a Canute moment."

"Dominic Grieve's comments re Twitter have more than a whiff of 60s high court 'who are The Beatles?' judge about them."

"What a **** #Dominic_Grieve_QC trying to stop people expressing what they want to on Twit & FB! Tweet away."

The keyboard warriors are out in force this morning, rallying against Mr Grieve's plans to give social media users warnings about high profile court cases.

The Attorney General wants to issue public versions of the advisory notes that are sent to newspapers and broadcasters where publishing or broadcasting certain information could prejudice a trial, or where said publication has been banned by court order.

But Twitter's champions of free speech, claiming Mr Grieve is "killing the 'interwebs'" or that he "needs to 'liv' in the 21st century", need to realise they're not superheroes defending a fundamental right - they're just embarrassing themselves by wearing underpants over their trousers.

Social media is covered by the laws of the land, in the same way as any other means of publication or broadcast.

This is nothing to do with freedom of speech or expression and entirely to do with the right to a free trial and to anonymity often granted by the courts.

A number of recent cases appear to have forced Mr Grieve's hand.

Take the man given a suspended sentence for tweeting images purporting to be of one of the killers of Jamie Bulger.

Alan Davies and Sally Bercow both made remarks on Twitter which landed them in a spot of legal bother.

And then there was Peaches Geldof's tweet about the Ian Watkins, in which she named two women whose daughters she claimed were victims of abuse by the former Lostprophets frontman.

Those arguing that the legal system needs to adapt to the realities of social media are clearly unaware that reform of the halls of justice tends to occur at a glacial pace.

And those who ask whether people likely to publish legally-questionable material are similarly likely to read the Attorney General's advisories are also missing the point.

These notes do not have the force of law. They are, as the name suggests, merely advice.

Not being aware of said advice is no defence to a charge of contempt of court - although admittedly it has, in the past, been difficult to prosecute when the contempt takes place on social media.

One wonders whether we might see the Attorney General's office being rather more proactive in future.

I understand that those who tweet may not be aware of the law - and to an extent I consider them lucky.

I well remember the mind-numbing tedium of the legal module of my journalism training, hour after hour spent poring over statute and common law.

But the rules governing contempt are myriad and labyrinthine and I simply could not do my job without that knowledge.

And even with the training, with the finest media lawyers at our beck and call, many a journalist and news organisation has inadvertently broken the rules.

Users of social media complaining about the sensible steps taken today by Mr Grieve need, frankly, to grow up, and recognise they are governed by the same rules as everyone else.

David Cameron once said that "too many tweets make a ****". He may have a point.

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"What a **** #Dominic_Grieve_QC trying to stop people expressing what they want to on Twit & FB! Tweet away."

The authentic voice of the moron.  

The twits are clueless that so called freedom of speech is subject to certain criteria.  

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/april-jones-internet-troll-sentenced-6381408

By WalesOnline
April Jones: Internet troll sentenced for 'absolutely appalling' Facebook posts
6 Dec 2013 17:48
Gordon Mullen was turned into police by his own friends because of what he was saying



An internet troll who mocked the search for murdered April Jones has been branded “absolutely appalling” by a judge.

Gordon Mullen was condemned by Scots Sheriff Iona McDonald, who also criticised people for “saying whatever they like on social networks”.

Mullen, 24, made the abusive remarks on Facebook two days after the five-year-old went missing near her home in Machynlleth in October 2012.

He made a series of shocking posts from his home in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, after getting into a three-way conversation, Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard.

Mhari Mair, prosecuting, said one of Mullen’s own Facebook friends alerted police because he was using “such sick comments regarding the missing child, April Jones.”

His first post said: “Hopefully the search for the missing girl doesn’t go on like the Madeleine McCann saga and she just turns up dead.”

Mullen then made an obscene comment regarding Jimmy Savile, adding “LMAO” (laughing my a*** off).

He also made a horrific remark involving April Jones and Austrian sex criminal Josef Fritzel.

Mullen admitted breaching the Communications Act after his earlier arrest for failing to appear in court.

Peter Murray, defending, agreed with Sheriff McDonald’s remark that the accused’s behaviour was “absolutely appalling”.

Mr Murray added: “Drink had been taken and at the time he gave no thought to how upsetting it would be to those close to April Jones.

“The matter has been well reported in the newspapers and mentioned by individuals in his community and this has brought home to him the consequences of his behaviour.

“The gravity of the situation is not lost on him and there will be no repetition.”

Sheriff McDonald told Mullen: “This is nothing short of appalling.

“The youth of today seem to think it’s okay to say whatever they like on social networks.”

She said if April’s family had read the comments “they would have been absolutely devastated.”

Sheriff McDonald added: “It’s absolutely horrendous. The only thing saving you from a jail sentence is the fact that your previous offences are nothing remotely as serious as this.”

Mullen was given 120 hours unpaid work. Outside court he ran and hid in a car park before grappling with a journalist.

Co-accused, Liam Young, 25, of Ardrossan, was given 120 hours unpaid work in October after admitting a similar charge.

The pair had each been “trying to be more shocking than the other”, the same court heard.

April’s disappearance generated massive publicity, with Prime Minister David Cameron joining in the appeal for information.

She was snatched by 47-year-old paedophile Mark Bridger, who lived close to her home.

In May, Bridger was convicted at Mold Crown Court of April’s abduction, murder, and perverting the course of justice. He was jailed for life.

Mullen’s case is the latest in a series of high-profile controversies involving social media, leading to legal warnings from the authorities.

In October 2012, 20-year-old Matthew Woods, of Chorley, Lancashire, was jailed for three months for posting indecent comments about April and missing Madeleine McCann on Facebook.

The following month, Sam Busby, 18, from Worcester was given a six-week suspended prison term and ordered to do 200 hours community service for posting sexual comments about April.

And in August, the family of online blackmail suicide teenager Daniel Perry, of Fife, said they wanted the “scum” linked to his death hunted down.

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Few would be surprised if that piece of merde was in a McCann-hating group under another name; he'd fit in perfectly with the rest of them.