British Men Jailed For Online Hate Crimes 778
chrb writes "Two British men have become the first to be jailed for inciting racial hatred online. The men believed that material they published on web servers based in the United States did not fall under the jurisdiction of UK law and was protected under the First Amendment. This argument was rejected by the British trial judge. After being found guilty, the men fled to Los Angeles, where they attempted to claim political asylum, again arguing that they were being persecuted by the British government for speech that was protected under the First Amendment. The asylum bid was rejected and the two were deported back to the UK after spending over a year in a US jail."
Bollocks (Score:3, Funny)
Have you ever noticed.... (Score:3, Funny)
In reply to this calamity... (Score:2, Funny)
Passport question for the UK folks . . . (Score:5, Funny)
. . . don't convicted criminals have their passports confiscated, while awaiting sentencing?
I just find it bizarre, that they can just hop on a plane to LA.
This would be a great Monty Python sketch with Eric Idle, as the bloke checking the passports on exiting the country:
"Ah, going to Los Angles, super, super! Business? No, holiday? Ah, spit, which one is it?"
"We are convicted criminals leaving the country, to apply for asylum in the United States."
"Ok, off you go then!"
Re:The UK does not have free speech. (Score:3, Funny)
You wear an earpiece and I'll tell you what to say. We'll go all Sash Baron Cohen in Detroit. Then you can get a first-hand taste of exactly what saying things other people don't want to hear can lead to.
This is where your 2nd Amendment rights kick in.
Re:No Asylum? (Score:5, Funny)
they didnt speak Spanish well enough to stay here...
Re:There is no such thing as "jurisdiction" any mo (Score:1, Funny)
Israelis arrest (and indeed assassinate) enemies of Israel anywhere they like. Ditto the USA.
But you're still walking and breathing.
that works so well (Score:4, Funny)
Great going, Britain! As Yugoslavia has shown us, trying to suppress racial hatred through government oppression works really well!
GNAA (Score:2, Funny)
The Gay Nigger Association of America [www.gnaa.us] will be furious!
And believe me, you don't want to have those guys on your ass!
Re:whats the crime in hate crime? (Score:2, Funny)
Why is the term "homophobia" being tossed around so much? It is totally misused. I do not fear homos. I intensely dislike them because they choose to be deviant and abnormal. This is not fear.
Re:The US has limits on it too. Thankfully. (Score:5, Funny)
You have to draw the line somewhere (Score:1, Funny)
As for the whole "proud to vote for a black man" thing ... that IS racist. If you're more proud to vote for a particular candidate due to his race, you're a bigot, regardless of whether he's black, white, green, or purple.
Fuck purple people.
Old Testament API is deprecated (Score:2, Funny)
You can still make the calls to the Leviticus module, but dont expect them to be supported anymore.
Re:The US has limits on it too. Thankfully. (Score:3, Funny)
And if you try it in Australia the locals turn up with a bag of sausages and some paper plates.