Internet troll is jailed after mocking deaths of teenagers online.

[TitanAtlas]

It's a condition that everyone has called Stupidity.... the only difference is that somes have more of it then the others... this guy breaks the scale with it...

It's weak and pathetic to mock about the death of others who didn't deserve they're destiny...

 

[The Man With the Soap]

Some of you may remember the story on here about a troll who was arrested last year for mocking Jade Goody's family over her death amongst other things.

It's happened again (maybe several times again, this is the only one I've heard of recently).


From the article:

An internet troll who posted videos and messages mocking the deaths of teenagers, including a girl hit by a train, has been jailed.

Sean Duffy, 25, targeted Facebook tribute pages and posted videos on YouTube taunting the dead and their families.

Among his victims was Natasha MacBryde, 15, who died instantly when hit by a passenger train near her home in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.

The day after Natasha's death in February, Duffy posted comments including "I fell asleep on the track lolz" on the Facebook tribute page created by her brother James, 17.

Four days later he created a YouTube video called "Tasha the Tank Engine" featuring her face superimposed on to the front of the fictional engine.

Duffy, who is unemployed and did not know any of his victims, pleaded guilty to two counts of sending malicious communications relating to Natasha.

He asked for three other cases of Facebook trolling ? posting offensive messages on the internet ? to be taken into consideration when he appeared before magistrates in Reading, Berkshire.

Jailing him for 18 weeks, the chair of the bench, Paul Warren, told him: "You have caused untold distress to already grieving friends and family.

"The offences are so serious only a custodial sentence could be justified."

He tries to pin the blame on his Aspergers syndrome claiming he didn't know the effect he was causing on the victims family and friends. Now, I'm not an expert on the subject, but I'm pretty damn sure Aspergers sufferers know a sense of right from wrong.
I find it frankly appalling he is trying to hide behind this; he's sick, disability or not.
I hope any trolls who are as deranged as him take this as a warning lest they follow in his footsteps and manage to sort their lives out.


Thoughts/opinions?

What he did was cruel and wildly innappropriate, sure. But, I don't think he deserves to be jailed for it. It's a matter of free speech. It is up to the individual to judge how they exercise their right to free speech, not the government.

 

[thirion1850]

Talk about an overreaction. Yeah, the guy's a massive douche, but 'mean things' don't constitute jail time.

 

[The3rdEye]

You don't understand.

You're right, I don't understand. I don't know if what was said about him was true and I don't want to know. I don't understand if you like your brother or if you think he's the scum of the earth and deserved it (probably too extreme but bear with me). If someone makes a false claim against you that claim can be refuted and reparations made. I don't understand why someone would call your brother a rapist and again I don't know because frankly it's none of my business and I prefer to keep it that way. Deliberately mocking and antagonizing a family because they have suffered an irreparable loss at such a young age is quite the different story, especially when both parties are unknown to each other and in this case it's also a repeat offense. If it is to be the outcome when trying to remove people who show a continual disrespect for human dignity and life, then bring out the shrinks or load up the prisons (no I don't think it will ever come to that but it is a price I would pay).

The line drawn is that if you do something with the intent or knowledge that it will hurt them, that sort of thing should be discouraged not because it's "mean", but because it's (in detached terms) counter productive. There is nothing to gain from it and there can be plenty to lose.

This isn't someone just being "mean", it takes time and effort to make an post a video and not only make multiple comments on but find someone's facebook.

This probably isn't how you mean it (I really hope, at least) but it sounds like you're making this out to be a crime because he was killing time and not putting forth effort to continue to The Great Human Empire's cause.

To rephrase, I am unable to see how attacking or mocking someone can allow anyone to take a step forward. I just meant to withdraw the "emotion" in the issue and think of it more by numbers. I meant it to be cold, not fanatical.

 

[Wanzer]

Alright to the people commenting on this here and saying about free speech. Please for the love of God, GO LEARN LAW BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH ABOUT IT. There are limitations to what you can say at any given time and under various articles there are situations where you aren't allowed to open your mouth and say what you want to. When it causes harm to another person or is known to cause, then it is no longer protected under our rights as humans. It is like shouting fire in a crowded location or shark on a crowded beach; firstly, it isn't funny in any sense of the word and secondly you can cause damage to people. The reason the court systems found him guilty was because of his gross neglect of human emotion and the sensitivity that those who just lost someone feel. Do you have any idea those suffering from losing a loved one can slip into a suicide? What this troll just did was first off wrong morally and is wrong by the standards that government puts out; so yeah, I completely agree with his jail time and I think he should be made to tough out a year or two inside of four months, especially since the troll had no job in the first place. People think a little bit before you do shit like this, honestly why do you think grade school teachers would knock the hell out of you if you called someone a name?

I salute you with the force of a thousand fucking suns, as a Journalism student it makes me so glad to see someone who really understands freedom of speech around here, instead of just throwing it out as an all-purpose shield against consequences.

Considering I'm a journalism student myself, I return said salute.

 

[Draconalis]

This makes me wonder sometimes what our culture is heading to. Why are people defending someone that obviously deserves some sort of punishment?

Because it's a slippery slope.

Take this for example. Euthanasia is the medical ending of someone's life.

What if a law was passed to Euthanize Retards. They don't contribute to society and merely waste resources.

What is the legal definition of Retarded? What about bums who are not retarded, but still don't contribute to society and waste resources?

And in this hypothetical word, what if they simply decide to go the latter route and start Euthanizing people that haven't worked for 6 months to a year?

It's an extreme example to point out the same concept of "slippery slope"

This douche gets punished, rather harshly, for words. Who's to say you're not next for something you say in the heat of rage?

 

[The Eyeball Moose]

He tries to pin the blame on his Aspergers syndrome claiming he didn't know the effect he was causing on the victims family and friends. Now, I'm not an expert on the subject, but I'm pretty damn sure Aspergers sufferers know a sense of right from wrong.

Speaking as a person who has a brother with Aspergers, that statement is wrong. But this is still tragic.

 

[Giest4life]

The guy deserved it for being a prodigious asshole, but we can't be jailing people for opinions expressed on a public forum. The guy got jailed in the UK, who have different free speech laws. But being an asshole =/= jailtime--unless you are blocking the traffic.

This makes me wonder sometimes what our culture is heading to. Why are people defending someone that obviously deserves some sort of punishment?

This douche gets punished, rather harshly, for words. Who's to say you're not next for something you say in the heat of rage?

Or if something is considered criminally offensive in some parts of the world, for example, like offering support for gay marriage or expressing legitimate (but divisive) political opinion?

 

[SageRuffin]

This just goes to show that YOU DO NOT MOCK THE DEAD (real life people, of course).

Okay, sure, a jail sentence is pretty extreme, but Asperger's syndrome or no he should fucking know better. If he absolutely had to make jokes... actually no, I'm not gonna go there.

Addendum: Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but not only did make comments, he made fucking videos. AS someone who makes various videos, that takes time, planning, and effort to release such a thing. And he did it multiple times. Again, the jail sentence is extreme, I'll agree to that, but are some of you actually trying to defend this guy's actions?!

Someone, please tell me I'm just looking at some of these comments wrong...

 

[PerpetualGamer]

Freedom of Speech does not protective Obscene things.

The Miller test was developed in the 1973 case Miller v. California.[2] It has three parts:
Whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards", would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,
Whether the work depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law,
Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.[3]
The work is considered obscene only if all three conditions are satisfied.

If we are to believe Extra Credits ( I see no reason not to ) the first rule was changed at some point that of "objectionable material, as determined by the average person" same with the second rule more or less, and that third rule pretty much speaks for itself.

This troll totally violates all three, and thus loses his freedom of speech. In my opinion, a full year in prison would have one wonders for this kid.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Wait, so the taxpayers are having to feed and house this guy because he was trolling a grieving family and acting like an ass in general? I'm thinking he's likely this outcome, cause now he's getting 3 meals and a roof over his head with out doing anything other than obeying the rules.

 

[Kotaro]

People like this are why people who really have Asperger's Syndrome have to hide that from people.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

In his case it was probably a matter of it being easy to identify him as well as the fact that not all cases of trolling are equal.
...

This was going after what for the family involved is a very personal and sensitive incident and turning it into a joke for the amusment of people who don't give a damn about the feelings or tragedies of others.

That isn't just showing bad taste, that's plainly being cruel and malicious for the sake of it.

Take the big picture of the Facebookers condemning the Tsunami or the Japanese beating America at football. I'm not going to link to it, but I'm sure people have seen it by now.

There are a LOT of people on the Internet who are just plain vicious.

Are you going to jail them all?

Jessi Slaughter. [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/jessi-slaughter#.Tm-9XexLqSo] Her father "You dun goofed", died of a massive heart attack just over a month ago.

Any of 4chan going to jail for that? Or Boxxy? Or Mitchell Henderson?

 

[Undeadpool]

Take a step back and look at this way: what if this guy had shown up at these peoples' houses shouting taunts from the city street? To me this seems perfectly justified and is just another example of people assuming anything they do on the internet is free of consequence.
I mean really, if someone dear to you died and some lunatic just showed up in front of your house cackling and hurling taunts at you, wouldn't you want to see them put away? Frankly if someone had done that, they'd probably get MORE than just 18 months. Maybe he'll think twice next time he decided to be a complete prick for his own amusement and at the expense of others.

 

[godofallu]

Not that i'm condoning what the kid done but isn't he allowed to say what he wants, freedom of speech and all

That's what I was wondering, but I think other countries outside of the US don't actually have freedom of speech.

 

[Dogstile]

You don't understand.

You're right, I don't understand.

You're damn right, because you've missed the entire point of my post again. Don't bother replying if you're not going to read it dude, that's no way to argue.

 

[Harveypot]

You know that prick in school who was an awful excuse for a human being to everyone who ever met them? The one who would make snide comments and verbally bully you? The one who never got caught because they could never pin anything on them? Yeah, it's good to finally see one of them getting punished.

 

[Wanzer]

This makes me wonder sometimes what our culture is heading to. Why are people defending someone that obviously deserves some sort of punishment?

Because it's a slippery slope.

Take this for example. Euthanasia is the medical ending of someone's life.

What if a law was passed to Euthanize Retards. They don't contribute to society and merely waste resources.

What is the legal definition of Retarded? What about bums who are not retarded, but still don't contribute to society and waste resources?

And in this hypothetical word, what if they simply decide to go the latter route and start Euthanizing people that haven't worked for 6 months to a year?

It's an extreme example to point out the same concept of "slippery slope"

This douche gets punished, rather harshly, for words. Who's to say you're not next for something you say in the heat of rage?

I'd like to point out that I mentioned he was arrested on harassment chargers that were more akin to stalking than anything else. Making a comment in the heat of rage that might be cruel and insensitive is one thing, but I doubt highly anyone is going to mock the dead in their moment of rage. Still, it is plausible and I give you some respect for the point; however, sad to say that this isn't a slippery slope with this guy. As I mentioned, he was basically being a stalker and going up to these peoples windows and constantly reminding them of the fact therefore becoming both harassing and stalking. Under the cyber protection laws, he does deserve jail time as Cyber Stalking and cyber harassment are still both serious crimes. As someone who has gone through it and still is, it isn't fun, it isn't funny and it seriously begins to screw up your life after a point. Most of the time police can't do anything simply because people can switch their IP addresses like that now and in most cases, there is a lack of 'proof' that comes from it. So I'm glad this guy got jail time and wish he would have gotten more because he invaded another families life and tried to hurt these people through the internet.