News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Where Online Hate Speech Can Bring the Police to Your Door. Parent comment

Re:Where Online Hate Speech Can Bring the Police to Your Door by cortesoft on Monday October 10, 2022 @01:03AM (#33147955)
You say that people have been punished and jailed for simply saying the wrong thing… do you have any actual examples? The one example you gave, the woman who laughed at Jeff Sessions, had the conviction overturned and the charges dropped.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/08/562823691...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Where Online Hate Speech Can Bring the Police to Your Door by fzeroracer on Monday October 10, 2022 @02:04AM (#33148281)
You don't have to be convicted to be punished. They knew that these charges wouldn't fly, but harassing someone, arresting them and forcing them to show up in court is still a massive burden on an individual and a drain of their money.

The mistake is assuming that the punishment begins upon conviction when going through the legal system is often punishment enough and a big chilling effect on free speech.

[ Parent | on HN ]