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posted by takyon on Friday December 28 2018, @07:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the joking-while-online dept.

UK Cops Have Decided Impolite Online Speech Is Worth A Visit From An Officer

In this case, it was Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan being visited by the Norwich Police Department on a Sunday morning. He was apparently reported by outspoken trans rights activist Adrian Harrop. Linehan had posted tweets criticizing Harrop's televised debate with a woman who had paid for a billboard depicting the dictionary's definition of the word "woman," which bothered Harrop so much he complained and got that taken down as well.

Harrop was the reason Linehan was talking to police officers about tweets that didn't even violate the Twitter Rules. He had merely suggested Harrop's steamrolling of the billboard buyer during a televised debate might have been "male privilege." Another tweet alleged Harrop had threatened women and doxxed them for not being friendly enough to his cause. This is the tweet Harrop admits bothered him so much he needed to call the police. This is the disturbing, but ultimately useless, outcome of Harrop's decision.

[...] You can't recognize free speech while still insisting everyone has to be nice to everyone else while online. You can hope that's what will happen, but you can't demand this of the general population. Unless you're in the UK, in which case you can, because you don't really recognize free speech and should probably remove that phrase from the government's collective vocabulary.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @08:25PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @08:25PM (#779449)

    This is simple intimidation via police.

    Lets see... for a noise complaint you can go to your neighbor just like the cops. "please keep it down". Then its either fuck off or sure n/p.
    When you call the police they show up and see if there is any noise, or just assume the person turned it down when they saw them.
    It's no longer "please keep it down", its complaints have come about the noise you're making TURN IT DOWN.
    And sure you can tell them to fuck off but they can give you a ticket. And then "hey, is that weed I smell".

    So now in your scenario, someone makes a joke that offends their enemy. Instead of coming back with something witty, they called the cops.
    And they come to your door while your showering, eating dinner, in your underwear, etc. "What did you say online, you're offending people, you may have committed a "hate speech"
    "You know what the penalties for that are? Better not make us come back here again, watch what you say lad because we're listening"

    Maybe the police won't shoot or beat or fine you for either of these things, it would be ridiculous but that threat is behind EVERY interaction you have with them. When you don't comply the so called civility gets less and less.
    You've got a light out its pretty clear cut, jokes online are not. One you fix and move on, the other is subject to everyone's whims.

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @11:24PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @11:24PM (#779509)

    They're not dense, you are.

    You were created by a screwed up society, and think that everyone should be as screwed up as you are.

    Better societies keep an eye on troubled people, and help those in need.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @12:19AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @12:19AM (#779529)

      Bootlicker.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday December 31 2018, @07:35AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 31 2018, @07:35AM (#780175) Journal

      You were created by a screwed up society, and think that everyone should be as screwed up as you are.

      If there are all these normal people who aren't screwed up, then how did society end up that way? Mental failwaves from a few throwbacks? What's going on here is that some screw ups get to use the power of the state to harass some other screw ups. It's not going to make screwed up societies any better.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @02:08AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @02:08AM (#779561)

    for a noise complaint you can go to your neighbor just like the cops. "please keep it down". Then its either fuck off or sure n/p.

    Or it's the neighbor deciding you'd be better off with a few broken bones for daring to interrupt their concert. Maybe a bullet to the head.

    I'll call the cops, thanks all the same, because the cops can legally do things to people that I can't.