You've got a week and a bit to get your sh*t together otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!

[Clairwil]

I've updated my CafeMom status thought bubble to

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!!

A frustrated accountant updated his twitter status, visible to his friends, to the above text.  And, as a result of government scanning for 'hot' words terrorists might use, was prosecuted and lost his job.

There's a protest campaign trying to get this overturned, on the grounds it is obviously a joke and judges need to be more aware of how social media works.

You can listen to Stephen Fry talking about it here.

But to me the bigger problem is that everyone now just naturally assumes governments have a right to snoop like this, and that we need to censor our private conversations with our friends to guard against appearances.

I HATE that.   I really really hate that.

So I've updated my CafeMom thought bubble status to the same text, in protest.   We should not have to censor our free expression in fear of how government snoops might interpret our words.   Stephen Fry says it is foolish not to.

So be it, I'll live and die a fool, but a proud and free one.

Who's with me?

[cjsix]

 

[SarahLizyB]

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[mstkn.identity]

Hell no. You are on your own. You crazy. Better safe then sorry. Im with the gov on this one.

[spastic_poodle]

Yeah... Not with you on posting crap that could get me prosecuted.

[thatgirl70]

Well, censorship or not, it's kinda not a smart thing to say publically.

[jess80]

After 9-11 ppl should know better than to say that kind of shit....yes it goes against our freedom of speech but ppl can't threaten shit like that!

[JLo1486]

I do not censor myself. At.all.

[Clairwil]

Quoting mstkn.identity:

Hell no. You are on your own. You crazy. Better safe then sorry. Im with the gov on this one.

Do you think serious terrorists, in 2012, are going to be unaware of government snooping, and post such messages to their friends without cryptography, if they intend to blow up airports?

[Clairwil]

Quoting thatgirl70:

Well, censorship or not, it's kinda not a smart thing to say publically.

In the same way it is "not a smart thing" to dress like a 'slut', in case you get sexually attacked?

How public is something that only your friends list reads?   None of his friends reported it, it was never sent to the airport - it was ONLY found out by government electronic snooping.

[mstkn.identity]

You never really know. Im sure a lot of idiots that have done stupid shit had posted shit like that as a joke and noone took it serious.

Again better safe then sorry.

Quoting Clairwil:

Quoting mstkn.identity:

Hell no. You are on your own. You crazy. Better safe then sorry. Im with the gov on this one.

Do you think serious terrorists, in 2012, are going to be unaware of government snooping, and post such messages to their friends without cryptography, if they intend to blow up airports?