Man jailed for being an internet troll

[Torplexed]

Someone has now been jailed for Internet trolling. This person apparently left mean spirited messages on a Facebook tribute to a deceased relative among other things.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-14894576

Natasha MacBryde threw herself under a train after being bullied

A Berkshire man has been jailed for posting abusive messages online about a schoolgirl after she committed suicide.

Sean Duffy, 25, of Reading, was handed an 18-week sentence for posts on social networking sites about Worcestershire teenager Natasha MacBryde.

He previously pleaded guilty at Reading Magistrates' Court to sending indecent or offensive communications.

Police said Duffy also posted abuse about dead teenagers in Northumberland, Gloucestershire and Staffordshire.

Duffy, of Grovelands Road, admitted two offences of "trolling" a term used to describe the trend of anonymously seeking to provoke outrage by posting insults and abuse online.

Miss MacBryde had thrown herself under a train in February after being bullied.

Duffy subsequently posted anonymous messages on a remembrance page - "Monday 14th February will always be remembered as Tasha MacBryde day" - set up by her 17-year-old brother James to allow friends and family to pay their respects to the teenager.

In one of the posts he called her a slut. He also posted a video on YouTube, entitled Tasha the Tank Engine, showing the children's character Thomas the Tank Engine with Miss MacBryde's face.

Jo Belsey, prosecuting, said the family were "understandably outraged, disgusted and hurt".

In a statement read to the court, her father Andrew MacBryde said he "could not believe anyone could stoop to such depths" after his son told him of the online posts.

He added that Duffy's actions had "added to the horror of dealing with the death of their beautiful daughter".We prosecute people for vandalizing graves, so I have no objection to seeing this creep go to jail. :nope:

[Sailor Steve]

It's my understanding that you can recieve similar punishment for writing abusive letters to people, or for doing the same with print media. Also, while we protect free speech, if one were to stand out side someones home and shout this sort of thing, or do so at the school, there would be limitations.

I agree, this goes beyond the bounds of not only good taste, but of what is acceptable in any polite society.

[Betonov]

Also, while we protect free speech...

This was not free speech. This was not speech of any kind. It was simple psychological abuse, nothing to protect here, only punish :nope:

[Reece]

Excellent! That is where he belongs!:yep:

[Jimbuna]

18 weeks doesn't sound like that much of a deterrent :hmmm:

[Betonov]

18 weeks doesn't sound like that much of a deterrent :hmmm:

18 weeks in a facility with internet acces :hmmm:

[Castout]

Governments employ trolls too, well at least the proud shameless Singapore regime and mine I'm sure. The third class governments of third world South East Asia states. :DL

I never understand troll psychology. Inflict pain is pleasure? Sounds like psychopathy.

[papa_smurf]

18 weeks doesn't sound like that much of a deterrent :hmmm:

What would be a appropriate punishment in your "expert" opinion?

[Skybird]

Offending someone is a punishable offence in most Western penal codes. Show a car driver the middle finger, call someone "Blöde Kuh" or worse, and if you get sued and the incident gets confirmed, you pay.

Offending someone this way is meant to hurt him. What the guy in the article did, did hurt people, and much more than in case of "ordinary everyday-offendings". So he pays a price for that whioch also is higher - not money, but loss of freedom for some weeks.

I have no problem with this sentencing.

[joegrundman]

18 weeks doesn't sound like that much of a deterrent :hmmm:

it wasn't much of a crime. seems pretty appropriate to me.

and it's a much stiffer penalty than you get for wrecking the national economy leaving your bills to be covered by the taxpayer

[BossMark]

He is one hell of sad git to say things like that. I know what I would like to do to him if it had been my family.

[Herr-Berbunch]

18 weeks in a facility with internet acces :hmmm:


They may get t'interweb, and Sky TV, and lots of other facilities that I can't afford, but when I drop the soap - nothing happens! ;)

[Jimbuna]

What would be a appropriate punishment in your "expert" opinion?

I'd have thought some form of community service helping out in establishments that try to help people deal with the trauma they suffer when being the receiver of such disgraceful behaviour.

Better to put something back into the system and understanding the potential consequences of said behaviour than simply becoming a further financial burdon on a prison system that is already hugely overstretched.

Just my 'expert' twopenneths worth.

They may get t'interweb, and Sky TV, and lots of other facilities that I can't afford, but when I drop the soap - nothing happens! ;)

Your not complaining are you? :DL

[Herr-Berbunch]

than simply becoming a further financial burdon on a prison system that is already hugely overstretched.

I'd like to see them repay in cash for their little stay, through higher taxes, but I don't thing a great many of them would earn enough to do so without some do-gooder pointing out that they need their £40-per-month Sky package, or their 40-cigs-per-day... :nope:


Your not complaining are you? :DL

Certainly not, it's an exit not an entrance! :stare:

[MothBalls]

If people are going to get jail time for trolling, we're going to have to build a lot more jails.

Guys like this aren't going to learn anything from jail except how to become a better criminal, or how to be become even more mean spirited. Just need to start dropping all of the criminals and people who think like this guy on some isolated island and let them torture each other forever.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Maybe we don't need to build more jails, the publicity this has got should make people think twice before doing similar!

Or so I'd like to think.

[mookiemookie]

The Third Man got thrown in the pokey? Sweet.

[jumpy]

one of the comments from the bbc article yesterday (though I cannot find them now)
Paraphrased as follows:

proponents of removing the anonymity to sites like facebook etc (zuckerberg et al) are missing the point - many of us can keep our real identity separate from our online avatar for the reason that trolling online stays online.
Were you to have your real name, address and other details available on such sites, it's a good bet you'd be getting hateful trolling at your home address too.
Which is a much more frightening idea than internet trolls.Trolling will not stop just because you divulge everyone's personal information. That is a fools paradise.

As for the sentence, well.. it seems a trifle pointless if you ask me. Better that the guy be blacklisted from having internet access/social networking, than 3 squares a day and Xbox in a young offenders unit.

There are better things to be punished by time inside.
Like this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2037309/Judge-tells-child-abusers-If-I-ban-having-children-I-would.html I know, DM :oops: but you get the idea.

How far is the government (the courts are and extension of gov.) going to stick its nose into areas like this and widen the spectrum of individuals they can call 'criminals'?
You could argue that the number of criminal acts has increased because the government has increased the number of things that are now considered crimes. You might be a law abiding citizen today, but a criminal tomorrow, depending on how the political wind blows.

This particular incident is lacking in respect, taste and general decency, but that is all.

You'd have to lock up half of subsim (myself included) if you considered internet trolling in its various forms as a criminal act. Not to mention all of the politicians and bankers who have demonstrated an as yet unheard of lack of respect, taste and general decency in recent years, all of which has had a far more devastating impact on ordinary people and their lives to date.

This is a strange grey area, where existing legislation, political and police thinking is a long way behind understanding what is actually taking place, let alone legislating how to deal with is - what we don't need is any more crap laws made by people who don't understand what is going on.
I call the courts and ministers on this one: being seen to be tough on 'crime' and tough on the causes of 'crime' makes for good politics, but rubbish laws and precedent.
Bit like ken clarke and his advocacy for TV cameras in trials (though only appeal for now)... he says it's so people can see the court process and feel safe because of knowing how things work. Well call me a cynic, in view of the recent disturbances on some of our cities streets, it looks more like a warning to me - "Look, look! see what you'll get if you're a bad 'un? So's you best do what we tell ya, alright? Or it'll be bad for you... see how bad it could be? So just watch out!"

It's all pointless anyway when you consider the humour and the truth behind this: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mark-steel/mark-steel-bankers-eight-billion-years-in-jail-should-do-it-2354144.html though I digress a little.

EDIT:
reading back, I'm reminded of an incident here recently with seemed much more aggressive in its nature:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/extremists-groups-clash-as-london-honours-the-victims-of-new-york-2353150.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036172/9-11-memorial-events-London-protesters-burn-American-flag-outside-US-embassy.html
http://weaselzippers.us/2011/09/11/uk-muslim-radicals-burn-american-flag-outside-u-s-embassy-in-london-during-911-minute-of-silence/ (btw, you don't want to regard the EDL as 'friends', just so as you americans know, some of the comments clearly do not understand this... or maybe they do?)

Both the OP story and these links highlight examples of a lack of taste, respect and decency, however, I think there will be a contradictory sentencing/conviction regarding the internet troll and these fundamentalist religious trolls and their flag burning. It will show the problem and disparity of how the law is applied by the courts and directed by political interests.

[Jimbuna]

Certainly not, it's an exit not an entrance! :stare:

Tis a funnel not a tunnel :03:

[Onkel Neal]

Someone has now been jailed for Internet trolling. This person apparently left mean spirited messages on a Facebook tribute to a deceased relative among other things.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-14894576

We prosecute people for vandalizing graves, so I have no objection to seeing this creep go to jail. :nope:


Same here. People have to be accountable for the things they say.

[Rilder]

I don't think this was trolling, trolling would be more along the lines of someone convincing everybody that the girl was dead when she wasn't actually dead then going "Har har I was trolling, umad?

Or if Neal went and convinced the entire forum that there was a Silent Hunter VI in the works then on the supposed release date he changed the link to a Silent Hunter VI subforum to lead to a giant picture of a trollface. THAT would be trolling.

[flatsixes]

I don't think this was trolling, trolling would be more along the lines of someone convincing everybody that the girl was dead when she wasn't actually dead then going "Har har I was trolling, umad?

Or if Neal went and convinced the entire forum that there was a Silent Hunter VI in the works then on the supposed release date he changed the link to a Silent Hunter VI subforum to lead to a giant picture of a trollface. THAT would be trolling.

Whoa! There's a Silent Hunter VI in the works?

HEY EVERYBODY! I just heard that Silent Hunter VI is in the works! Something about submarines vs. giant subforum trolls. Neal's gonna link to the demo with the release date! Check back here often!!!! :arrgh!:

[razark]

Whoa! There's a Silent Hunter VI in the works?
I heard the release date is around the end of March next year.

[kranz]

http://b12.grono.net/153/48/gallery-73332928-500x500.jpg

[Herr-Berbunch]

I heard the release date is around the end of March next year.

You beat me to it! ;)

[Castout]

What would be a appropriate punishment in your "expert" opinion?

Shoot him, put his body in the bag and dump it in the dumpster or better feed it to the cats in the zoo. That kind of guy is a trash. One less trash.