Man arrested by anti terrorist police over Twitter airport bomb joke.

Run_to_da_hills

A man was arrested by anti-terrorism police, suspended from his job and banned for life from Robin Hood Airport Doncaster North England after he sent a Twitter message joking that he was going to blow up an airport if it remained shut during the cold spell.

"Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your sh*t together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!,” said Chambers on his Twitter homepage on 6 January

The 26-year-old was questioned for seven hours by interrogation officers who failed to see the joke in his message, they probably never heard of Twitter up until this. :rolleyes:

He has been bailed to February 11 when he will find out if he will be charged with conspiring to create a bomb hoax. Detectives have also confiscated his iPhone, laptop and home computer.

And we think data retention and IP tracking is harmless.:rolleyes:

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14896/new-media/twitter-joke-leads-to-terrorism-act-arrest

Cookie_Monster

They're on to you now for linking to it and spreading the word!

run to the hills, quick!
:eek::eek::eek:

F*cking moron, in fairness. Anyone who doesn't realise that in the current climate, you just don't 'joke' about bombs in public (and Twitter is public) deserves what they get.

walshb

I am a fairly jokey kinda' guy but I never can see anything funny with thess airport bomb jokesters; it's just NEVER funny

Stercus Accidit

[quote=[Deleted User];64063031]F*cking moron, in fairness. Anyone who doesn't realise that in the current climate, you just don't 'joke' about bombs in public (and Twitter is public) deserves what they get.[/QUOTE]

The only current climate is that of a police state with a new excuse to rescind basic human rights.

Terrorism is about affecting peoples minds and quality of life, you are more likely to die from lightning strikes, its power is only there because people let it be.

It is absurd and by media conditioning you think it is ok because of a climate? It is a climate of fear which suits terrorists fine, perpetuated by those who seek more power, the terrorists won, its the disregard for the law by those in power and the sheep who allow it that worry me.

Glad I don't live in the UK.

Terry

[quote=[Deleted User];64063031]F*cking moron, in fairness. Anyone who doesn't realise that in the current climate, you just don't 'joke' about bombs in public (and Twitter is public) deserves what they get.[/QUOTE]
Seriously?
This is thought crime territory.

Are people really comfortable with the police having the power to arrest someone for making a joke in public?

AnonoBoy

Robin Hood Airport! Hah!

r3nu4l

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Robin Hood Airport! Hah!

It's ironic that today Robin Hood himself would probably be considered a terrorist :pac:

walshb

Terry wrote: »

Seriously?
This is thought crime territory.

Are people really comfortable with the police having the power to arrest someone for making a joke in public?

Yeah, but maybe they only realised it was a joke after the arrest.
With this attitude, then someday, someone will do something terrible and
those with this attitude will blame the cops for not taking it seriously.
Damned if you and damned if you don't.

The twat made a threat and was pulled for it, he's the twat, not the coppers doing
their job.

WindSock

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Robin Hood Airport! Hah!

I know. I am desperatley trying to think of a joke. My ingredients are Little John airlines/airport & Bangkok.

Also, good job he wasn't Muslim. It'd be all over Sky News by now.

WindSock

walshb wrote: »

Yeah, but maybe they only realised it was a joke after the arrest.
With this attitude, then someday, someone will do something terrible and
those with this attitude will blame the cops for not taking it seriously.
Damned if you and damned if you don't.

The twat made a threat and was pulled for it, he's the twat, not the coppers doing
their job.

Terrorists don't target airports because they are closed due to the weather.

AckwelFoley

Terry wrote: »

Seriously?
This is thought crime territory.

Well, AH is safe then.




Personally i think this story is mad. Id say the chap is gutted he can never use a sh1thole airport in Doncaster again.

walshb

WindSock wrote: »

Terrorists don't target airports because they are closed due to the weather.

Well, if that's the case, maybe the cops need to take note of this for the future, so they don't go wasting their time....:rolleyes:

hooradiation

Terry wrote: »

Seriously?
This is thought crime territory.

Are people really comfortable with the police having the power to arrest someone for making a joke in public?

No it isn't.

If you want to test your hypothesis that this is just someone making a joke in public, i suggest going into a large airport somewhere in the UK and joke loudly about blowing it up
Let us know how that goes.

And leave the rampant hysteria to run to the hills, he's got more practice.

Miguel_Sanchez

snyper wrote: »

Well, AH is safe then.

Personally i think this story is mad. Id say the chap is gutted he can never use a sh1thole airport in Doncaster again.

Doncaster is a horrible place. The whole airport is riddled with posters for STD clinics - apparently the town is riddled with actual STDs.

Lovely.

It's a hole and I will be happy if I never return there in my life.

The statue of Robin Hood in the airport made me laugh though.

Latchy

hooradiation wrote: »

No it isn't.

If you want to test your hypothesis that this is just someone making a joke in public, i suggest going into a large airport somewhere in the UK and joke loudly about blowing it up
Let us know how that goes.

.

If you want to miss your flight and be frog marched off by police to the local slammer for 48 hrs ,that's the way to go about it , as quite a few idiots over the years have found out

Buford T Justice

Such a load of balls. Arrested and charged for saying something on twitter?

What next, Pre-crime?

walshb

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Such a load of balls. Arrested and charged for saying something on twitter?

What next, Pre-crime?

So, if someone now posts online that they intend to commit an atrocity, should the cops wait until after he/she has committed the atrocity, or go and check it
out first. To me, this is a no-brainer!

WindSock

walshb wrote: »

Well, if that's the case, maybe the cops need to take note of this for the future, so they don't go wasting their time....:rolleyes:

Yeah, maybe they do :rolleyes:

Maybe I will put it onto twitter so they can read it.

Edit: Dur we go!

http://twitter.com/WindSockWins

ejmaztec

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

Doncaster is a horrible place. The whole airport is riddled with posters for STD clinics - apparently the town is riddled with actual STDs.

Lovely.

It's a hole and I will be happy if I never return there in my life.

The statue of Robin Hood in the airport made me laugh though.

Perhaps they wouldn't notice if it were blown up.

Seonad

hooradiation wrote: »

If you want to test your hypothesis that this is just someone making a joke in public, i suggest going into a large airport somewhere in the UK and joke loudly about blowing it up

That's not really the same at all

Pacing Mule

WindSock wrote: »

Yeah, maybe they do :rolleyes:

Maybe I will put it onto twitter so they can read it.

Edit: Dur we go!

http://twitter.com/WindSockWins

I'd be more interested if you posted a similar message about Dublin Airport and see if the Gardai have a similar response.

My name is URL

Seems like a dumb thing to say, joke or not

if someone did blow up an airport and it later surfaced that a threat had been posted on Twitter beforehand and ignored, there'd be uproar

WindSock

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

I'd be more interested if you posted a similar message about Dublin Airport and see if the Gardai have a similar response.

Is that a dare?

(actually, please don't push me, I'm in work :eek:)

Damn you terrorists. You win this round.

Or maybe if I do and follow it by 'help, I'm getting the **** kicked out of me and my house is being robbed,' they will leave me alone!

hooradiation

Seonad wrote: »

That's not really the same at all

What makes you think that it's not?

Twitter isn't a joke amongst friends it's very much in the public domain, if you're going to post it there then you should have no problem shouting it from the top of your lungs in an airport.

i mean, it's just a joke, right? So what's the problem?

Pacing Mule

WindSock wrote: »

Is that a dare?

(actually, please don't push me, I'm in work :eek:)

Damn you terrorists. You win this round.

Or maybe if I do and follow it by 'help, I'm getting the **** kicked out of me and my house is being robbed,' they will leave me alone!

Ha if I say it is a dare then I will get done for conspiracy

Biggins

A bit silly him posting that to be honest. I'd say he's mostly to blame for his own situation.

Small part, a bit over reaction by others but that was just more daftness compounding the previous daftness.

DominoDub

More anti-terriorism madness !

He had the wrong type of phone :eek:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/18/andy-pag-biofuel-campaigner-bail

walshb

The point is that no matter how daft it may seem to some, the cops are obliged to investigate these incidents. It's part of their routine and I'd rather them on alert than complacent. Of course, there will be false alarms and "jokes," but they have to treat all incidents as possible danger.

Now, had they burst into his room and shot him dead as he sat on his PC, yes, I would condemn them.

NothingMan

walshb wrote: »

Now, had they burst into his room and shot him dead as he sat on his PC, yes, I would condemn them.

Or.... register a twitter account to your mortal enemy and tweet about blowing up an airport and sit back and watch as the police splatter his stupid short arse scumbag miniature brains all over the wall.

Run_to_da_hills

Fingers McGee wrote: »

What next, Pre-crime?

Already happening

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/CCTV-Security-Moves-Step-Closer-To-Minority-Report/Article/200811415163450?f=rs

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1089966/Minority-Report-comes-Britain-The-CCTV-spots-crimes-BEFORE-happen.html

NothingMan

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Already happening

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/CCTV-Security-Moves-Step-Closer-To-Minority-Report/Article/200811415163450?f=rs

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1089966/Minority-Report-comes-Britain-The-CCTV-spots-crimes-BEFORE-happen.html

.....but really not happening at all.

MaybeLogic

NothingMan wrote: »

.....but really not happening at all.

It is happening here in Ireland, with the the latest amendment to the Criminal Justice Act bringing in conspiracy laws.
Discussing a crime, in the comfort of your own home ,could now lead to a hefty jail sentence.

OutlawPete

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The 26-year-old was questioned for seven hours by interrogation officers who failed to see the joke in his message,

Wonder if he got dragged off on horseback by the sheriff.

/gets coat

Yakult

‏بِحَمْدِك ‏‏ذِي‏‏ الْإِكْرَامِ‏‏ مَا ‏‏رُمْت ‏‏أَبْتَدِي ~~~~‏ ‏كَثِيرًا‏‏ كَمَا‏‏ تَرْضَاهُ‏‏ بِغَيْرِ تَحَدُّدِ

Overheal

I so expected this to be about the FBI...

Terry wrote: »

Seriously?
This is thought crime territory.

Are people really comfortable with the police having the power to arrest someone for making a joke in public?

I can't agree with you at all. You have the Right to Freedom of Speech, yet, you can't Yell "FIRE!!" In a movie Theater. Unless of course, it happens to be on fire.

But Im sure the Feds thought as you did once upon a time. "Ah sure Tom, let thim plot and scheme. I dont think they could actually bring down the World Trade Center..."

"I don't think anyone anticipated a breach of the levees... [Except the Army Corps. of Engineers but I thought they were taking the piss]"

Pushtrak

I get that they had to pursue it on a damned if they do, damned if they don't basis. But, 7 fuppin hours? Thats quite a lot of time to regurgitate questions, isn't it?

Sheeps

walshb wrote: »

I am a fairly jokey kinda' guy but I never can see anything funny with thess airport bomb jokesters; it's just NEVER funny

It might not be funny in that it's a bad joke, however it's not wrong to joke about it.

Terry

walshb wrote: »

Yeah, but maybe they only realised it was a joke after the arrest.
With this attitude, then someday, someone will do something terrible and
those with this attitude will blame the cops for not taking it seriously.
Damned if you and damned if you don't.

The twat made a threat and was pulled for it, he's the twat, not the coppers doing
their job.

Police officer: Are you the Paul Chambers who posted about blowing up Robin Hood airport on Twitter?
Paul Chambers: Yes. I was just kidding though.
Police Officer: Oh. Ok then. Bye.

That's how it should have gone down.
He didn't make a threat. He made a joke.
Sorry, but how many terrorists have actually posted about their intentions on twitter, or any social networking site?
Terrorists do not do that. They work in secret. How ****ing stupid do you have to be to think a terrorist is going to openly admit they are going to blow something up? I suppose the answer to that is 'as stupid as the person who reported him and the police who arrested him'.

WindSock wrote: »

Terrorists don't target airports because they are closed due to the weather.

Indeed.

hooradiation wrote: »

No it isn't.

If you want to test your hypothesis that this is just someone making a joke in public, i suggest going into a large airport somewhere in the UK and joke loudly about blowing it up
Let us know how that goes.

Not really the same thing.
Were I to insult you here, I would be banned by the mods. There wouldn't be much you could do about it though.
Were I to insult you to your face, I'm sure your reaction would be different.

Welcome to the internet.

And leave the rampant hysteria to run to the hills, he's got more practice.

No.

Overheal wrote: »

I so expected this to be about the FBI...

I can't agree with you at all. You have the Right to Freedom of Speech, yet, you can't Yell "FIRE!!" In a movie Theater. Unless of course, it happens to be on fire.

But Im sure the Feds thought as you did once upon a time. "Ah sure Tom, let thim plot and scheme. I dont think they could actually bring down the World Trade Center..."

"I don't think anyone anticipated a breach of the levees... [Except the Army Corps. of Engineers but I thought they were taking the piss]"

Here's a song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJRF8xGzvj4

AnonoBoy

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Already happening

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/CCTV-Security-Moves-Step-Closer-To-Minority-Report/Article/200811415163450?f=rs

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1089966/Minority-Report-comes-Britain-The-CCTV-spots-crimes-BEFORE-happen.html

I wonder what happens when one of those cameras spots Tom Cruise?

NothingMan

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I wonder what happens when one of those cameras spots Tom Cruise?

I programmed them to kill him to death with lasers.

Terry

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I wonder what happens when one of those cameras spots Tom Cruise?

It zooms in to get a good look.

/short joke.
/high hat.

Run_to_da_hills

walshb wrote: »

Now, had they burst into his room and shot him dead as he sat on his PC, yes, I would condemn them.

Of course that would depend on the colour of his skin.

hooradiation

Terry wrote: »

Not really the same thing.
Were I to insult you here, I would be banned by the mods. There wouldn't be much you could do about it though.
Were I to insult you to your face, I'm sure your reaction would be different.

Welcome to the internet.

I'm sorry, i must have missed the memo where threatening to blow up an airport was excluded from being something to investigated if it's on the Internet. I mean it's not like people have ever advertised their intent to do something horrible on-line before.

Stercus Accidit

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

The only current climate is that of a police state with a new excuse to rescind basic human rights.

Terrorism is about affecting peoples minds and quality of life, you are more likely to die from lightning strikes, its power is only there because people let it be.

It is absurd and by media conditioning you think it is ok because of a climate? It is a climate of fear which suits terrorists fine, perpetuated by those who seek more power, the terrorists won, its the disregard for the law by those in power and the sheep who allow it that worry me.

Glad I don't live in the UK.

If you did live in the UK you might 'get it'.

This isn't about some bloke making a silly comment to a friend. This is a bloke posting a comment on a public site read by millions of people.

I'm not saying I think it's a great idea to arrest people for what appears to be a joke, but the fact is that there are a lot of people around who genuinely would like to blow up an airport and quite likely have the means of doing so. Making a joke about something like this is asking for trouble, and most importantly, it isn't even funny. It has been made clear for years now that joking about bombs with airport staff will lead to immediate offloading of the passenger and probably an arrest. Most normal, sane people realise that such jokes aren't funny and just add unnecessary hassle and stress to the already irritating airport experience. So why would anyone post that on a blog? Only a complete idiot would.

Terry

Terry wrote: »

Police officer: Are you the Paul Chambers who posted about blowing up Robin Hood airport on Twitter?
Paul Chambers: Yes. I was just kidding though.
Police Officer: Oh. Ok then. Bye.

That's how it should have gone down.
He didn't make a threat. He made a joke.
Sorry, but how many terrorists have actually posted about their intentions on twitter, or any social networking site?
Terrorists do not do that. They work in secret. How ****ing stupid do you have to be to think a terrorist is going to openly admit they are going to blow something up? I suppose the answer to that is 'as stupid as the person who reported him and the police who arrested him'.

Wow. Do you EVER watch the news? How ***king stupid do you have to be not to realise that people don't do just that ALL THE TIME? Remember the Finnish school shootings? That guy posted a video on Youtube shortly beforehand. Perhaps if someone had taken it seriously, those victims would still be alive. Who said anything about 'terrorism'? This guy could have been a random nutcase for all anyone knew, just like the Finnish guy.

You know that guy who tried to blow up the plane on Christmas Day? He was pretty open about his intentions, his family even warned that he was a terrorist threat.

But sure, carry on living with your head firmly buried in the sand.

Run_to_da_hills

[quote=[Deleted User];64065666]This isn't about some bloke making a silly comment to a friend. This is a bloke posting a comment on a public site read by millions of people. [/QUOTE]Any terrorist with basic knowledge of surveillance is not going to publicly boast on a social networking site that he is about to blow up an airport.

NothingMan

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Any terrorist with basic knowledge of surveillance is not going to publicly boast on a social networking site that he is about to blow up an airport.

Probably not, but as someone just said, some random nutcase might. So it should be investigated fully. Not saying arrest him, but you can't really ignore it either.

humanji

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Any terrorist with basic knowledge of surveillance is not going to publicly boast on a social networking site that he is about to blow up an airport.

But a psychopath might.

Edit: Ninja'd.

orourkeda

Terry wrote: »

Seriously?
This is thought crime territory.

Are people really comfortable with the police having the power to arrest someone for making a joke in public?

If you dont want to get arrested dont tell jokes about bombs. Simple. He deserves it for being a stupid c*nt

NothingMan

NothingMan wrote: »

Probably not, but as someone just said, some random nutcase might. So it should be investigated fully. Not saying arrest him, but you can't really ignore it either.

Exactly. And I'm sure if the police ignored this and then the airport did get blown up, there would be outrage. What are they supposed to do? If stupid d*ckheads just didn't post unfunny bomb 'jokes' online, this sort of thing wouldn't be an issue.

Thought crime territory. I've heard it all now. Posting something which could be interpreted as a threat on a public website = thinking. OK.