John Naughton in The Observer draws attention to the case of Paul Chambers who tweeted: " "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!!". He found himself arrested under the anti-terror laws, convicted, fined and lost his job as a consequence. His appeal was turned down on the grounds the tweet "contained menace".
Naughton quotes blogger Martin Weller and his "conspiracy of sentiment."
"All those involved at various stages: politicians, the police, CPS, judges, media are all acting from the same unspoken emotional base. This can be summarised as: they hate you. They hate that you undermine their carefully crafted messages and turn them into jokes. They hate that you are forming new methods of entertainment that they don't understand. They hate that you can organise yourselves without them knowing about it. They hate that power has been democratised. They hate that you get at content for free. They hate it, hate it, hate it. So when the opportunity arises to stamp on one of you snivelling social media types, they grasp it with both hands."
Social change, lagging attitudes. Sounds like time for a Times Editorial on breaking butterflies on wheels...
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