Twitter Joke Goes to the High Court

Karloff

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Oct 19, 2009
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Twitter Joke Goes to the High Court



One tweet cost this man two jobs and a criminal conviction, so now he's making his final appeal.

Unemployed former trainee accountant Paul Chambers is headed off to the High Court of England and Wales to have his appeal heard. If successful, he's hoping to have his criminal conviction expunged. You may remember Chambers as the man who threatened to blow up an airport, in the tweet heard around the world: "Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!" That tweet got him prosecuted and convicted under terrorism legislation.

Chambers later claimed that the tweet was "like having a bad day at work and stating that you could murder your boss," adding that he "didn't even think about whether it would be taken seriously." It was, and very seriously. Plainclothes police arrested him at his place of work, and the trial that followed left him with a criminal conviction and GBP1,000 (over$1,500) worth of fines and costs, under provisions of the 2003 Communications Act. It also cost him his job. He appealed, lost, and his fines and costs went up to GBP3,000 total (over $4,500). He also lost his second job, as his employers caught wind of the so-called bomb threat and promptly kicked him to the curb.

If Kafka wasn't already dead, he'd be ghosting Chambers' life story by now. Chambers, currently unemployed at the age of 28 and possibly unemployable given his history, is living in Ireland with the woman he had hoped to visit that day when Robin Hood airport was closed. At the time the airport - shut because of the weather - was unaffected by Chambers' tweet, and an operations manager later said the effect of Chambers' threat was "operationally nothing. It had no impact [on the airport]." The effect it had on Chambers' life was considerably more impactful.

Stupid things are said on Twitter every minute of every day. Chambers is living proof that, if you're unlucky enough, the idiotic thing you tweet can cost you pretty much your entire life and prospects for the future.

Source & Image: The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/jun/27/twitter-joke-case-high-court-paul-chambers]


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Fasckira

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Oct 22, 2009
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How did it get reported? I mean if the airport staff didnt give a monkeys, and it was pretty evident the guy was just blowing off steam how did this all kick off in the first place?
 

Ewyx

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Dec 3, 2008
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I'll just wait for the usual reaction on the escapist along the lines: "He deserved it. Everyone knows that terrorism scares are taken seriously these days."

But yeah, it's bullshit. I still have no idea why anyone takes anything on the internet seriously.
 

Chrono212

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May 19, 2009
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Fasckira said:
How did it get reported? I mean if the airport staff didnt give a monkeys, and it was pretty evident the guy was just blowing off steam how did this all kick off in the first place?
They're everywhere, man. Always watching, listening...


OT: Well, it's a dumb thing to say, but just goes to show how neurotic people are about perceived terrorism.
I imagine whoever acted on this tweet was also having a bad or boring day and wanted something interesting to do.

On a side note, why are you saying 'GBP1,000' and not '£1,000'?
 

Gearhead mk2

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You know, hearing stuff like this just gets me really, REALLY pissed off at how little sense people have these days.
 

CardinalPiggles

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Jun 24, 2010
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This makes me so mad I think I might go and blow up the entire airport for him, just to spite them.

Chrono212 said:
On a side note, why are you saying 'GBP1,000' and not '£1,000'?
This bothered me too, do you not have a £ symbol on your keyboard Adam Gauntlett? GBP1,000 just looks weird. It's like putting USD1,000...
 

Lvl 64 Klutz

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Apr 8, 2008
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"I'd like to present as evidence the episode of Twilight Zone where the guy wakes up and can hear people's thoughts." Seriously, if there was a moral to that episode, this is it.
 

Chrono212

Fluttershy has a mean K:DR
May 19, 2009
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CardinalPiggles said:
This makes me so mad I think I might go and blow up the entire airport for him, just to spite them.

Chrono212 said:
On a side note, why are you saying 'GBP1,000' and not '£1,000'?
This bothered me too, do you not have a £ symbol on your keyboard Adam Gauntlett? GBP1,000 just looks weird. It's like putting USD1,000...
Do you want some JPY? Or EURs? :p
 

Danzavare

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Oct 17, 2010
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O.O

No one thought this at least warranted a warning or anything of the sort? An investigation? How about common sense? No? Nothing!?

Seriously, I don't think anyone in the history of anything would blow up an airport for not being open! D:
 

Eleuthera

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Sep 11, 2008
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CardinalPiggles said:
This makes me so mad I think I might go and blow up the entire airport for him, just to spite them.

Chrono212 said:
On a side note, why are you saying 'GBP1,000' and not '£1,000'?
This bothered me too, do you not have a £ symbol on your keyboard Adam Gauntlett? GBP1,000 just looks weird. It's like putting USD1,000...
I don't know about him, but i do indeed not have a '£' symbol on my keyboard, though I would've put 1,000GBP instead of GBP1,000.
 

MammothBlade

It's not that I LIKE you b-baka!
Oct 12, 2011
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This man's situation is nothing but a national disgrace. A joke should not cost anyone their job and livelihood. I hope to dear God he wins and gets compensation for this travesty of justice.

His employers are equally fucking retarded and sick as the legal system which prosecuted him.

This makes me really burn with anger.

It's not much, but is there any sort of petition that can be signed?
 

Petromir

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Apr 10, 2010
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Fasckira said:
How did it get reported? I mean if the airport staff didnt give a monkeys, and it was pretty evident the guy was just blowing off steam how did this all kick off in the first place?
No-where does it say they didn't give a monkeys. What the airport official quoted says it had no operational effect as it was already shut down for other reasons.

Whether the potential victim wants you to or not is not the be all and end all of criminal charges.

Twitter is not a private communications method, its a public method, no powers are required to monitor it.

ALL Bomb threats are taken very seriously round here because the results of ignoring the right one is just to serious. Investigating hoaxes is a serious drain on police resources, and can cost local businesses and people a lot of money.

If I made even half that sort of threat based around the time in a US immigration queue I'd be treated much worse.

THe punishment is over the top. He probably should have been warned, and his 2 jobs are definitely over reacting, but probably have blanket policies on criminal convictions.

I have had 10 minute train journeys turned into hour plus affairs because of hoaxes. Remember the only people who at the time know a hoax is a hoax are the people who do it..


The guy had every right to complain, and his punishment is harsh, but quite how a bomb threat comes to mind as an appropriate joke to be spread in such a manner is beyond me.
 

Zortack

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Mar 19, 2009
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Petromir said:
Fasckira said:
How did it get reported? I mean if the airport staff didnt give a monkeys, and it was pretty evident the guy was just blowing off steam how did this all kick off in the first place?
No-where does it say they didn't give a monkeys. What the airport official quoted says it had no operational effect as it was already shut down for other reasons.

Whether the potential victim wants you to or not is not the be all and end all of criminal charges.

Twitter is not a private communications method, its a public method, no powers are required to monitor it.

ALL Bomb threats are taken very seriously round here because the results of ignoring the right one is just to serious. Investigating hoaxes is a serious drain on police resources, and can cost local businesses and people a lot of money.

If I made even half that sort of threat based around the time in a US immigration queue I'd be treated much worse.

THe punishment is over the top. He probably should have been warned, and his 2 jobs are definitely over reacting, but probably have blanket policies on criminal convictions.

I have had 10 minute train journeys turned into hour plus affairs because of hoaxes. Remember the only people who at the time know a hoax is a hoax are the people who do it..


The guy had every right to complain, and his punishment is harsh, but quite how a bomb threat comes to mind as an appropriate joke to be spread in such a manner is beyond me.
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
 

MammothBlade

It's not that I LIKE you b-baka!
Oct 12, 2011
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Petromir said:
The guy had every right to complain, and his punishment is harsh, but quite how a bomb threat comes to mind as an appropriate joke to be spread in such a manner is beyond me.
Bomb jokes should not be taken too seriously. Imagine if everyone said "bomb" at once, it would lose its meaning. It's a scaremongering mentality. And really, it's not that hard to tell between a hoax and an actual threat. Shouting "bomb" means nothing, except shaking panicky people who are too afraid of terrorists for their own good. Terrorist incidents are very rare in the USA and Europe. People should think about it rationally. You're much more likely to get mugged or killed in a car crash or molested by airport security than get blown up on a Transatlantic flight.
 

Andy Shandy

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Jun 7, 2010
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No offence to the man but is it just me or is there something slightly "off" about his face? Something rather derpy about it.

Anyways, yeah, this is one hell of an over-reaction to a joke that somebody made on Twitter. The airport has even said it had no effect at all.
 

Mr.Pandah

Pandah Extremist
Jul 20, 2008
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Eh. While I don't believe he deserved this much punishment, some steps were necessary to prove the point.
 

mew4ever23

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Mar 21, 2008
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Oh, you stupid fool. You don't say crap like that. Everyone takes bomb threats seriously, especially when airports are involved.

To the people chiming in with "No one takes the internet seriously" let me ask this: What if someone did make a legit bomb threat over the internet, and then they came to carry it out? You'd want the authorities to put a stop to that, right? Right, which is why they treat all bomb threats, even ones made jokingly, seriously.
 

Petromir

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Apr 10, 2010
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MammothBlade said:
Petromir said:
The guy had every right to complain, and his punishment is harsh, but quite how a bomb threat comes to mind as an appropriate joke to be spread in such a manner is beyond me.
Bomb jokes should not be taken too seriously. Imagine if everyone said "bomb" at once, it would lose its meaning. It's a scaremongering mentality. And really, it's not that hard to tell between a hoax and an actual threat. Shouting "bomb" means nothing, except shaking panicky people who are too afraid of terrorists for their own good. Terrorist incidents are very rare in the USA and Europe. People should think about it rationally. You're much more likely to get mugged or killed in a car crash or molested by airport security than get blown up on a Transatlantic flight.

On the contrary Terrorist incidents are quite common in the UK and Spain. Since the destruction of the World Trade Center they have gone down in number. The UK's rules on bomb threats are a result of long term campaigns mostly ceased, in part due to a swing against how some of the groups are viewed in the US.

In the right context you are right, and such a joke made by a comedian on stage or by a bloke in the pub would not have elicited this response as there was clear identifiable context.

Twitter even more so than the old IRA phone calls lacks such an easy context, and is an ideal medium for a genuine threat, as such its not an appropriate place.

For most of us, until an evacuation or such like actually take place then there's nothing to fear, but any security service that doesn't investigate (which takes time and money)every threat is needlessly reckless. Its their job to do so. And by investigating their response to other incidents can be delayed, which risks lives.

As I said the punishment is overly harsh. And there are places where such a joke would be fine, but Twitter is along way from it.