ext_36227 ([identity profile] steer.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] philmophlegm 2012-08-01 01:11 pm (UTC)

I suspect more than half the people of my generation have said something about Mrs Thatcher's grave having a fitted dancefloor. If we added stuff like "I could kill the guy who wrote that stupid song" I think the number of people who have said that they would/could kill someone will rise to near 100%.

I think here we're in the field where normal social behaviour completely includes such statements, where it would not even be considered slightly shocking as part of a comedy act... but where the lack of social cues on twitter could lead it to be interpreted seriously.

If we have to have a police investigation into every death threat on twitter we're going to hire a lot more policemen. You'd have to be pretty daft to take these things seriously.

That said there would be a level of sustained threats/abuse where it would stray into a territory I would say should be illegal.


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