# Should people be going to prison for rude posts? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 26, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655 "2015-09-26T23:55:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/1 "2015-09-26T23:55:04Z")
Fortunately I live in USA, thus I may be banned on any forum but not jailed for my opinions. In UK [6,329 people](http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Careless-Whisper.pdf) were charged or cautioned under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003. Hundreds of those cases involved Social Media. Now trolls face [two years](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29678989) in prison. US Supreme Court allows even [extreme speech](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/us/supreme-court-rules-in-anthony-elonis-online-threats-case.html?_r=0). ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/2 "2015-09-27T00:23:54Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > Fortunately I live in USA, thus I may be banned on any forum but not jailed for my opinions. > > In UK [6,329 people](http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Careless-Whisper.pdf) were charged or cautioned under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003. Hundreds of those cases involved Social Media. > > Now trolls face [two years](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29678989) in prison. > > US Supreme Court allows even [extreme speech](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/us/supreme-court-rules-in-anthony-elonis-online-threats-case.html?_r=0). No one is going to jail for rude posts. And that second link of yours is a _proposed_ law, not a passed law. Bit of diff. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/3 "2015-09-27T00:36:16Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > No one is going to jail for rude posts. And that second link of yours is a _proposed_ law, not a passed law. Bit of diff. Several hundred people have been jailed for online threats. The law proposes an increase in penalty from 6 months to 2 years. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/4 "2015-09-27T00:40:03Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > Several hundred people have been jailed for online threats. The law proposes an increase in penalty from 6 months to 2 years. Online threats or trolling? Threatening specific imminent harm is very different from making rude comments. Saying “I hope you get raped by pigs” is different than saying hypothetically “My buddy cletus has a bunch of horny male pigs, and he’s coming by your house tomorrow”. I’m not sure if the credibility of the threat matters or not. What if someone claims online they are about to blow up the planet? Blow up an entire airport? Ask Xenu to annihilate our universe? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/5 "2015-09-27T00:52:53Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > Online threats or trolling? Threatening specific imminent harm is very different from making rude comments. Saying “I hope you get raped by pigs” is different than saying hypothetically “My buddy cletus has a bunch of horny male pigs, and he’s coming by your house tomorrow”. > > I’m not sure if the credibility of the threat matters or not. What if someone claims online they are about to blow up the planet? Blow up an entire airport? Ask Xenu to annihilate our universe? People do go to jail here over [trolling](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29678989), or “rude posts”, depending on your definition. See the comments of [this idiot](http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/oct/08/april-jones-matthew-woods-jailed) who copied and pasted jokes about a missing toddler from Sickipedia on to his Facebook and got banged up for it. The [law](http://www.itv.com/news/2015-05-25/convictions-for-internet-trolls-go-through-the-roof/) he violated; _“It is a crime under the Act to send “by means of a public electronic communications network” a message or other material that is “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/6 "2015-09-27T00:54:19Z")
Your definitions for the poll rather vague - asking if people should be going to prison for “rude posts” in the title and for posters with “a pattern of abuse” in the poll itself. These are not necessarily the same thing. No-one is getting jailed for making knob gags in internet forums. The people that have been jailed have done things like sending messages to people on social media threatening them with harm and sexual violence or sending messages to the parents of murdered childen mocking them. One would likely fall foul of the law if one was sending such messages to people by post, so the laws are just being updated to keep up with modern technological advances. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/7 "2015-09-27T00:58:28Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > No-one is getting jailed for making knob gags in internet forums. The people that have been jailed have done things like sending messages to people on social media threatening them with harm and sexual violence or sending messages to the parents of murdered childen mocking them. Even though I am not going to London prison for speaking without expertise, I prefer not to. Could anyone knowledgeable of UK laws weigh in? ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/8 "2015-09-27T01:00:15Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > See the comments of [this idiot](http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/oct/08/april-jones-matthew-woods-jailed) who copied and pasted jokes about a missing toddler from Sickipedia on to his Facebook and got banged up for it. The [law](http://www.itv.com/news/2015-05-25/convictions-for-internet-trolls-go-through-the-roof/) he violated; _“It is a crime under the Act to send “by means of a public electronic communications network” a message or other material that is “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”.”_ In USA posting sick jokes would not even be bannable on many major forums. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/9 "2015-09-27T01:06:19Z")
The big problem I see here is it seems to me like the authorities get to decide what _they_ consider rude. In certain circles, making ignorant posts about how Obama is a muslim or global warming is a hoax is “grossly offensive”. Or, another “grossly offensive” thing is claiming that the murdered kids at Sandy Hook Elementary were **fake** , that the children never existed and the parents were “crisis actors”. (all part of a liberal conspiracy to take away the guns of law abiding Americans) ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/10 "2015-09-27T01:26:20Z")
My only concern that I think should be taken seriously is credible personal threats. If I tell an old GF I am going to come over and beat the shit out of her for daring to find a new BF. I have a car, I know where she lives its 4 miles away perhaps I have been abusive to her before or have prior violent criminal record. the threat can be documented by the chat service I think I have pretty much asked for at least a chat with the cops and a restraining order. If I am uncooperative, charged with criminal threats or something similar. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/11 "2015-09-27T01:26:33Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > The big problem I see here is it seems to me like the authorities get to decide what _they_ consider rude. Definitely. UK is not The Land of The Free. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/12 "2015-09-27T01:28:12Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > My only concern that I think should be taken seriously is credible personal threats. US Supreme Court agrees with you. Not UK, Canada, Australia, NZ Supreme Courts. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/13 "2015-09-27T01:29:40Z")
While online abuse should not be tolerated, I see potential for a real slippery-slope curtailing of free speech here. What if authorities decide that comments such as, “9/11 was an act of Islamic terrorism” are Islamophobic and punish the speaker who expressed such an opinion? ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/14 "2015-09-27T01:41:15Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > What if authorities decide that comments such as, “9/11 was an act of Islamic terrorism” are Islamophobic and punish the speaker who expressed such an opinion? I do not agree with that statement – US is responsible for many more civilian losses then Islam. But I do not believe anyone deserves [this](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/08/19/article-2027890-0D7E164500000578-99_468x286.jpg) for their opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/15 "2015-09-27T01:45:14Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > People do go to jail here over [trolling](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29678989), or “rude posts”, depending on your definition. See the comments of [this idiot](http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/oct/08/april-jones-matthew-woods-jailed) who copied and pasted jokes about a missing toddler from Sickipedia on to his Facebook and got banged up for it. The [law](http://www.itv.com/news/2015-05-25/convictions-for-internet-trolls-go-through-the-roof/) he violated; _“It is a crime under the Act to send “by means of a public electronic communications network” a message or other material that is “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”.”_ That should not be illegal in a free society. Fuck the shriekers and the weak-kneed law enforcement that panders to them. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/16 "2015-09-27T01:45:40Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > Fortunately I live in USA, thus I may be banned on any forum but not jailed for my opinions. > > In UK [6,329 people](http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Careless-Whisper.pdf) were charged or cautioned under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003. Hundreds of those cases involved Social Media. > > Now trolls face [two years](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29678989) in prison. > > US Supreme Court allows even [extreme speech](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/us/supreme-court-rules-in-anthony-elonis-online-threats-case.html?_r=0). Don’t be too certain of that. Look up the case of Vikram Buddhi. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/17 "2015-09-27T01:49:27Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Don’t be too certain of that. Look up the case of Vikram Buddhi. I stand corrected – even in USA Free Speech is not absolute. ---
**Author:** ![Stoneburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/18 "2015-09-27T02:05:40Z")
Why should it be legal to communicate something via the internet that is not legal to communicate via some other form? I’m not allowed to threaten people via phone or snail mail, why should I be allowed to do so via another form of communication? And there is definitely a difference between what the links provide and what the OP implies. I mean come on “jailed for my opinions”? Threatening to kill or rape someone is not an ‘opinion’. I welcome this and think it’s very good that communication via social media is falling under the same protection as other ways of communicating. Frankly I’m starting to think that people shouldn’t even be allowed to post anonymously, I’m sick of the fake personas using anonymity to try and hurt people and stir up shit. If you can’t go online without threatening to kill or rape people, how about you just stay off line. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/19 "2015-09-27T02:16:07Z")
> [@Stoneburg](#): > > Frankly I’m starting to think that people shouldn’t even be allowed to post anonymously, I’m sick of the fake personas using anonymity to try and hurt people and stir up shit. If you can’t go online without threatening to kill or rape people, how about you just stay off line. In McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission (1995), the Court struck down an Ohio statute that made it a crime to distribute anonymous campaign literature. PS. Do not post [politically incorrect opinions from UK.](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/14/article-1286287-08567881000005DC-51_470x328.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Stoneburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655/20 "2015-09-27T02:28:52Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > In McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission (1995), the Court struck down an Ohio statute that made it a crime to distribute anonymous campaign literature. > > PS. Do not post > [politically incorrect opinions from UK.](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/14/article-1286287-08567881000005DC-51_470x328.jpg) So do you actually think that it should be legal to threaten to rape or kill people, as long as you’re doing it online? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-be-going-to-prison-for-rude-posts/732655.md?page=2)