Posted on 10/18/2017 8:12:19 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
Figures obtained by The Times through the Freedom of Information Act reveal that 3,395 people across 29 forces were arrested last under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, which makes it illegal to intentionally “cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another”, in 2016.
The true figure is likely to be significantly higher, as thirteen police forces refused to provide the requested information and two did not provide usable data.
Around half of the investigations were abandoned before being brought to prosecution, which critics say is an indication that the authorities are being excessively strict in their interpretation of the law’s restrictions on freedom of speech.
Nevertheless, many forces have massively stepped up their focus on so-called trolls, with the number of arrests by West Midlands Police having increased by an astonishing 877 per cent since 2014.
With Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s announcement of a special national police hub focused on online hate last week, it is expected that these numbers will only increase.
Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, said: “the problem is ‘grossly offensive’ is not something you should normally be prosecuted for. It’s not showing harm to other people. It’s not showing that somebody is being … attacked or threatened.”
The seeming inconsistency in the enforcement of free speech restrictions has also been a source of contention, with the Metropolitan Police — who detained 867 people in 2016, according to the Times figures — appearing reluctant to investigate people such as Nadia Chan, the self-described Islamist who was revealed as having made a number of deeply racist remarks about white people on social media after an appearance on public broadcaster Channel 4.
Chan branded Israeli Jews “parasites” and ranted that white people were “swine” and “pasty bland bitches [who] have NO culture, no rich history, you ain’t shit, ur ancestors were cave ppl”. She also openly endorsed terror attacks on Iranian state network Press TV — but the Met refused to say whether they would bring charges against her.
Literally thousands of people urged the Met Contact Centre on Twitter to investigate Chan, but the force did not appear to offer any public response, and individuals who contacted the account privately claim they were told the force would not accept any reports unless the complainants came to a police station in person.
Similarly, people who reported mixed race transgender model Munroe Bergdorf for saying “the white race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on earth” in a segment produced and aired by the publicly-funded BBC — an apparent violation of the laws against ‘inciting racial hatred’ — were met with official indifference.
The Met seemed to indicate that it was not interested in investigating Bergdorf in online responses to members of the public, referring them to the complaints form for broadcast regulator Ofcom instead.
Assisted suicide.
come and get me, Coppers!
Hmmmm...
makes it illegal to intentionally “cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another”
Saying “President Trump” triggers millions of leftist loons.
Well, when the police are not armed, who do you expect them to arrest? People with guns and machetes?
No wonder they don’t have time to investigate jihadists and muslim rape gangs.............
Moslems exempt from prosecution, not surprisingly.
Bit they son’t arrest terrorist suspects “who have been known to authorities for years”.
Britain: where 1984 isn’t just the name of a book.
British police are not local forces. They work for the Crown and are not part of the communities they work in. As with any national police force they become unaccountable and can’t be fired.
So what if our ppl lived in caves? They were smart enough to surround themselves on at least three sides by solid stone reinforcements from wild critters and enemies, increasing survival of a diverse gene pool; and those caves became spaceships. Do that with sand and thatch huts, and we can talk.
Wearing a red hat sends the flakes bonkers too.
Thank God for our Constitution.
How fitting that George Orwell (Eric Blair) was a BRIT!
[[ Freedom of Information Act]]
Yeah- look for the FOI Act to be recinded by the british- can’t have facts clouding up a dictatorship now can we?
=[[makes it illegal to intentionally “cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another”]]
I would say that the government htere is causing needless anxiety to the citizens by monitoring what they say and punishing them for it- Can the citizens- er i mean subjects there sue? Or request that their gov officials be arrested?
With the FCC pushing to pursue people sharing fake news, we are ot far behind
Yep, someone was pointing that now private entities like Facebook are replacing police
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