Two Twitter trolls jailed after sending abusive tweets to Caroline Criado-Perez

John Nimmo and Isabella Sorley jailed for sending threats to feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez

Isabella Sorley has been jailed for 12 weeks for subjecting Caroline Criado-Perez to abuse on Twitter. John Nimmo received eight weeks. The Telegraph reports here. Read the sentencing remarks here. Read a statement by Criado-Perez here. Martha Gill wrote in Telegraph blogs here, 'Twitter mobs are confused, angry and stupid. Police and employers should ignore them.'

For comparison re s. 127 "menacing" tweets, these are the sentencing guidelines for threatening behavior in public: http://t.co/6UfBcrkgM7
— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) January 24, 2014

Earlier post on this case here.

Two plead guilty after sending abusive tweets to Caroline Criado-Perez

Two people have plead guilty after sending abusive tweets sent to UK feminist campaigner and journalist Caroline Criado-Perez. They will reappear in court January 24 2014 for sentencing. The BBC reports here. Caroline speaks on BBC Newsnight with Jeremy Paxman in the video above. On Radio 4 PM here and in the audioboo below.

listen to ‘Caroline Criado-Perez on today's Twitter verdict’ on Audioboo

How to report Twitter abuse and violations

Abuse

Here are the basic steps any person concerned should take:

"Where an individual is being abused: “Twitter can only accept reports from the individual directly involved in the abusive situation, or their legal representation. We encourage people to file reports of abuse so we that we can investigate the situation and take action if necessary,” quoted by Twitter.

Report Abusive User by registering information here.

Violation of copywright and abusive content

To report both abusive content and unauthorised use of copyrighted and trademarked material, click here to access information on how to reporting accounts.

Libel/defamation

In the first instance contact the police where defamation/libel has occurred. At the same time you should report the account using the ‘Report Abusive User’ link provided above, and also request its removal via the links on the ‘How to report violations page’.

If you go down the copyrighted materials route, here is the information you require. You should say: “I am reporting on behalf of the rights holder, as their authorised representative.

Name of Rights Holder: Chris Shea. Your relationship to the rights holder: Colleague… if they ask for this information. We haven’t raised a trademark complaint on Twitter before and therefore don’t know what other questions are asked once you get into the form. Hopefully the information in this table should cover it.


Further reading and information

Further information from Twitter support page on dealing with online abuse here.

Twitter advice on safety and security here.

BBC guide to the law for Twitter users here.

BBC guides to what you can and can't say on Twitter here.

News surrounding defamation and libel in the Financial Times here. 

Caroline Criado-Perez and Twitter abuse

Writing in the Times Libby Purves (@lib_thinks) gives her thoughts on the recent wave of Twitter abuse launched against the Jane Austen banknote campaigner, Caroline Criado-Perez:

"Until 1935 you didn’t need a driving test in Britain. Until 1967 there was no drink-driving limit, until 1983 no safety-belt law. Until the 1960s you could put up a sign saying “NO BLACKS NO IRISH”. Convicts could be birched till 1962; schoolchildren caned quite recently (it was in South Africa that enraged nuns would lay about me with a ruler, rosaries rattling, but contemporaries in the UK report the same). You could blow smoke in people’s faces in a pub or office till 2006. Thus the borders of what is acceptable and legal in any civilisation naturally change.

They do not always contract: we now have same-sex marriage, and a historically unprecedented range of personal rights. But new things happen (such as mass immigration) or are discovered (such as tobacco causing lung cancer) and philosophical perspectives alter too. So the rules change.

The PSNI are patrolling social media

The Detail has good coverage on the new policing habits of the PSNI in the new online world. Get some insights here.