The problem with law enforcement investigating online behavior for things other than straight-up illegality should be obvious enough, but some genuinely do not understand why having police scan the Internet for “inappropriate” remarks isn’t such a good idea. For one thing, it’s totally arbitrary, as a recent cases also in the UK shows:
“‘In February this year Scottish Police arrested a 41-year-old man under the Communications Act after receiving a report of a supposedly ‘offensive’ comment made on Facebook regarding Syrian migrants.
The man was from the tiny Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde, which has a total population of just 6,498 and was expected to take in around 1,000 Syrian migrants. Commenting on the sudden and massive change is now all but impossible for locals.
A police spokesman was unequivocal, that any harsh criticism of the Muslim influx would not be ‘tolerated’. Inspector Ewan Wilson from Dunoon police office told the Guardian following the arrest:
‘I hope that the arrest of this individual sends a clear message that Police Scotland will not tolerate any form of activity which could incite hatred and provoke offensive comments on social media.’
But the force’s heavy handedness may be viewed as hypocritical, as their most recent retweet at the time of going to publish was about them failing to take any further action against an Imam who had shared approving messages about a Pakistani murderer.
Imam Maulana Habib Ur Rehman (Glasgow Central Mosque) reportedly used WhatsApp to show support for Mumtaz Qadri, a murderer who was hanged after killing a Pakistani politician for opposing Islamic blasphemy laws. Mr. Rehman called Mr. Qadri a ‘true Muslim’ because of his actions, though he latter insisted the comments were taken ‘out of context’.”
Source: Breitbart
F**k the UK sucks so bad now I won’t be going back.
Yep