Some real Shock and Awe: Racially profiled and cuffed in Detroit | Stories from the Heartland. Don't arrest me! It's only a tweet | Afua Hirsch | Law. IPL chairman Lalit Modi is being sued by New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns over a tweet accusing Cairns of match fixing tweet. Photograph: AP Twitter, it seems, has lost its innocence. Earlier this week, the high court grappled with the question of whether a "sensational" tweet about match-fixing in cricket was defamatory. Lalit Modi, one of the most influential men in Indian cricket, accused New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns of match fixing. Highly experienced libel judge Mr Justice Tugendhat apparently needed the help of two experts to understand exactly what a tweet is, how it "might be distributed" and exactly what to call the "individuals who have probably received in the jurisdiction a direct and automatic communication of the tweet from the defendant" (that's followers to you and me).
In the end he concluded that the case could continue, opening the way for more scrutiny of the defamatory implications of Twitter in this case and no doubt others to follow. When Tempest Toss'd, Embrace Chaos. Twitter Joke Trial: a layman journalist’s view « The Thought Stash. Despite being alluded to by many a fine blogger, including David Allen Green and @flayman and even the odd journalist, it wasn’t until I attended Court 2 of Doncaster Crown Court on Friday 24th August 2010 that I realised I was getting the emphasis in #TwitterJokeTrial all wrong. I now realise that it is not “#Twitter Joke: (The) Trial” but in fact is “#Twitter: (The) Joke Trial”. The sheer ridiculousness of the case against Paul Chambers is astonishing. The whole series of jobsworth decisions from the Airport Duty Manager who originally discovered the message, through to his Line Manager, the Police, then the Crown Prosecution Service and ultimately the Magistrate who convicted Paul, handing him a £1000 fine and a criminal record that would see him lose not one but two jobs, is mindboggling.
The case itself is incredibly simple and well documented, so I will not rehash the details other than to make a point about how many people could have stopped this. So, on to the appeal. Like this: Twitter and terrifying tale of modern Britain | Nick Cohen | Comment is free | The Observer. The head of MI5 has warned we must take the threat of new Islamist atrocities seriously. If the abuse of antiterrorist legislation in the Paul Chambers case is a guide, the people who most need reminding of the importance of seriousness, are MI5's colleagues in the criminal justice system. The 27-year-old worked for a car parts company in Yorkshire. He and a woman from Northern Ireland started to follow each other on Twitter. He liked her tweets and she liked his and boy met girl in a London pub. They got on as well in person as they did in cyberspace. In January, he saw a newsflash that snow had closed the airport. People joke like this all the time.
You know the difference between making a joke and announcing a murder, I'm sure. A plain-clothes detective from South Yorkshire Police arrived at Chambers's work. "Do you have any weapons in your car? " "I said I had some golf clubs in the boot," Chambers told me. With a bit of luck, the crown court will turn his case into a legal scandal. Law Review: #Twitterjoketrial – Shooting the Rule of Law in the foot? Twitter joke trial man's bomb threat was 'hyperbolic banter' | UK news. Robin Hood airport, Doncaster, which attracted Paul Chambers' ire when it was closed because of snow. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/PA He was a courting lover who ended up with a criminal conviction after saying on Twitter he would blow an airport "sky high" if it wasn't reopened to let him fly to see his new girlfriend in Northern Ireland.
Paul Chambers, a 27-year old trainee accountant from South Yorkshire, today launched a fightback against what is thought to be the UK's first criminal conviction for the content of a tweet on the microblogging site. He landed a £1,000 fine after the snow closed Robin Hood airport near Doncaster in January as he planned a trip to see "Crazycolours," a Northern Irish girl he had just met online, and he tweeted to his 690 followers: "Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!! " His case is currently adjourned and expected to be dropped.
Maev Kennedy.