Freedom of Speech

The UK has had a problem recently with a number of people being arrested for sending racist messages on Twitter. While I don't agree with what they have said, I don't think they should be arrested unless they are inciting violence (i.e. hate speech).

However the Guardian now reports that the British Police have gone further. They have arrested and issued a harassment warning to a teenager who insulted British Olympic Diver Tom Daley on Twitter.

The teenager tweeted (After Daley's failure to win a medal in the 10m Synchronised Dive):

You let your dad down i hope you know that.

Tom Daley's father died from cancer last year.

I think we can all agree that the message is reprehensible. But there is no way on earth he should have been arrested for it and I don't understand how it constitutes harassment.

The response of other Twitter users had already forced him to apologise and that is where it should have eneded.

These curtailments of freedom of speech are just one aspect of a police force in the UK that is clamping down on civil liberties. Others include the shooting of Mark Duggan, the response to the G20 protests in London and the death of Ian Tomlinson and Police infiltration of environmental groups.

And then there is this: the UK Police arrested 182 cyclists during the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. They were part of the Critical Mass monthly cycling event and had nothing to do with the Olympics. They (including a 13-year old boy) were arrested under the Public Order Act:

Some of those arrested have told the Guardian they were kettled and detained through the night in a windowless police "garage" and single-decker buses.

I can imagine it will only get worse before it gets better.