More bad press for aspies

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Here's a better article on this case:



More here

Seriously though, this case is BS. If you can be arrested for saying bad things on the internet (about people who aren't even around to see it, no less) then surely everyone with a connection should go to jail?

That wasn't an article - that was satire.

Seriously though, you think the case is BS. Other people don't. Bullying and abuse (for that is what this is all about) has serious repercussions. It can make the victims depressed, ill and potentially suicidal.

I'd like to know why people who bullied me never went to jail back in high school. Hell, I had a teacher bully me in a comparable manner (she eventually said sorry, but that was months later).

O, wait, it's probably because there's no hard evidence and people dismiss you in person, even though it takes so much effort to even bring it up if you're socially impaired.

Words can hurt as much as fists! I am sure we can have freedom of speech without getting personal! You can voice yourself on anything you want but the minute you make it personal this right is limited.

Mental illness has been used in courts since forever.
And obviously this prick will be just fine with a crime like that!! Jeez, I would put him to death in no time.

I was thinking between bullying in school and the bullies getting away with it and all the flaming and trolling you see online that mostly goes unpunished or only mildly punished it can easily mislead people into thinking you can say whatever you want without consequences.

A satire article is still an article.



The "victim" of this was dead. Kinda counterproductive becoming suicidal when your body's already in the ground, isn't it?

Only in the very loosest possible sense. And it's hardly pertinent to the facts of the case. So some people at thedailymash think they're being funny? Totally irrelevant.



The family were victims. The people left alive who were distraught about their dead loved one being mocked. No wonder you are missing the point here.

Satire can be used to make serious arguments, nemorosa, and I'd argue that everyone becomes less inclined to act morally online because we have relative anonymity.

The family could delete the Facebook page if they only want people to say nice things. Why put something like this online anyway? If a relative of yours were to die, would your first thought be "I better make a Facebook page"? I think that's more insensitive than a bit of stupid trolling TBH.

Why should they? It may mean something to them in the same way that a gravestone does to others, or leaving flowers at a grave.
I suppose by your reckoning a gravestone would be as insensitive as a Facebook page and if someone daubed it with obscenities or pushed it over - well, it's obviously their own stupid fault for leaving it there in the first place.

Maybe because there were lots of Facebook friends? Some Facebook users have them, you know.

I think you should spend a little more time thinking about what you've said here.

This type of page on any website is an entity which can be accessed by the general public who are then able to leave anonymous comments. Anyone who has spent time online knows that bringing up sensitive matters in this kind of environment is a bad idea. Trolls are everywhere online, why wouldn't they be on Facebook pages too? I'm not necessarily supporting the guy, I'm just saying that being sent to jail for something so commonly seen online just because a few people were offended is overkill.



If you want to share something with friends, put it somewhere where only your friends can see it. A Facebook page is a public entity and is therefore open to comments from anyone.

In fact, can't you turn off comments on Facebook pages anyway? I'm fairly sure you can. That could be done instead of the page being deleted I guess.



Not really. Again, making a public Facebook page is a silly idea for such a sensitive subject. Trolling is predictable, and, while it's not fully justified, neither is sending someone to jail over it.

Now, had it been a case where a group of people were sending abusive messages directly to family members, I'd understand this sort of action. But for a few stupid comments on a public Facebook page? Not so much.

It isn't common to repeatedly mock specific dead teenagers online, especially if you know their friends and families will read it. He hadn't got the message and needed to be shown that we don't approve of that sort of behaviour.

Trolls troll everyone. Again, I'm not supporting this, I'm just saying it's well known that this is common online and sending people to jail for it is overkill.

As it would presumably also be overkill to send someone to jail for defacing gravestones?

Well, if you think about it logically, a gravestone is just a stone. The crime in this case would be the vandalism.

On a Facebook page, if the admins of the page have allowed comments, they're inviting people to say things on that page. It's the equivalent of keeping spray cans next to the gravestone.

Just because it happens doesn't mean we should accept it.

Very few people troll in this way. It isn't common at all. Someone I knew made national news and nobody trolled his death, quite surprised this guy didn't given that we live in the same town. Several people I knew online have died as well and there was no direct trolling of them.

This is extreme trolling behaviour. Just as if someone would be jailed if they used racially offensive language to someone's face or sent them a letter containing death threats or gloating about the death of their child, they should be sent to prison if they put loads of effort into trolling people on FB when their kid dies, especially if they do it several times. It simply isn't common behaviour, despite what you say, and it isn't acceptable.

I'm not defending the behaviour, but if you're gonna put one troll in prison, surely that means you must do the same for all of them? I mean that'll just never happen.

IMHO, "extreme trolling behaviour" would be sending messages directly to family members. As I said before, that would justify a jail sentence for harassment. But posting comments on a public page isn't the same thing. You can't make a public page on which you allow anyone to comment and expect only good things to be posted, can you?