Yorkshire man sentenced for 'grossly offensive' post about dead Warminster soldiers (From This Is Wiltshire)

Within days of the April Jones offensive comments, it seems that use of this legislation is getting more popular as a man gets convicted of the same offence for saying he hoped all soldiers would die and go to hell. He did not specify six soldiers who died just days before, but it seems that a relation of one of them read the message and called the Police.

Interesting to compare and contrast with the other recent case. Here the accused did not refer to any specific incident at all, but to soldiers in general, but perhaps the timing of the comments made them offensive. Yet he challenged the matter. And got a much lighter penalty.

Bit strange when the soldiers were probably defending free speech.

Originally Posted by PlanetBertie

Bit strange when the soldiers were probably defending free speech.

The old chestnut 'freedom AND democracy' aka Oil and stuff

Originally Posted by PlanetBertie

Bit strange when the soldiers were probably defending free speech.

I severely doubt that.
They would have been defending the speech of those who supported the invasion, not of the majority who opposed and still oppose it.

Originally Posted by EUrJokingMeRight

The old chestnut 'freedom AND democracy' aka Oil and stuff

Sorry! I meant defending free oil.

my word, so let me get this straight, someone dies, relations can googling looking if someone has offended them on the internet. Thats like putting a glass against the neigbours wall and then being offended about what they might be saying.

The secret is, not what you write but who you write about.
A jounalist for example, in a serious newspaper can say, "Alan Ryan was a scumbag and had it coming", but an anonymous poster on the internet, could not say same about dead soldiers.
There's a hierachy system of victims.
One poster said to me on this website, "hope you're next on the (drug-gangs) hit list). Had I said the same, to say, a Unionist poster, I'd likely be charged.

It's getting like the book 1984 over there now. This law is very dangerous. Most people would not agree with these posts on FB but surely in a democracy people are entitled to different views.

Our freedoms are being undermined every day across the so called democracies of the world.

On the basis of this Dante would receive 300 years community service.

Things do not seem possible - and people will argue vociferously that they are not possible - until they come to pass. At that point they not only move into the possible but are well on their way towards the probable.

I place all my previous posts about internet control and the need to begin today to counter it in this category. Most people will not act and will refuse to believe they must act until it is too late.