Tourists deported from U.S. for Twitter jokes

LOL  Watch what you say on Twitter!

http://boingboing.net/2012/01/30/brits-deported-from-u-s-for-t.html

LOL  Watch what you say on Twitter!

http://boingboing.net/2012/01/30/brits-deported-from-u-s-for-t.html

"highly respected British newspapers, The Daily Mail and The Sun"

I chuckled when I saw that bit about the respected papers, but I just can't get over the fact that they were deported!

People get refused here for stuff they wrote in their private diary that the IOs read, so I am not surprised they got kicked out for something they wrote on a public place.

I would expect more privacy from my diary than something I twatted to the whole world.

Big Brother doesn't need to be watching.  People seem perfectly happy to provide him with all the information he needs through twitter and four square.

Added a friend: "He would not hurt anyone. He is gay."

I don't know whether to laugh or be horrified! 

I would expect more privacy from my diary than something I twatted to the whole world.

Twatted. Lol! 

Deserved in this case, but not always. 

People seem perfectly happy to provide him with all the information he needs through twitter and four square.

So true.

One the one hand, yes, the kid's obviously a moron, but does anyone think Homeland Security has made America safer by denying him entry?  I mean, I've seen his picture and read the tweet, and I'm pretty sure he's not an actual threat. 

I'd guess that a trained immigration officer might come to the same conclusion, and if there was any doubt, they'd be able to call upon the investigative power of both the US and UK governments to make sure.

I don't think this kind of security theater actually makes anyone more secure.

I don't think so either and it is a waste of money and the UK denies people for equally stupid reasons. 

I don't think he was a treat, but the whining just shows people don't know how their own country treats equally harmless people.

I still think he is a moron though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Paul_Chambers

There have been incidents in several countries where jokes on the internet have been interpreted as threats.

If this was an American guy posting in visas about being bounced for joking about destroying the UK (and it probably wouldn't have made the news because the UK for some reason doesn't have a reputation for doing stuff like that even though it does), we'd all be like "Well, they don't *have* to let you in....(blah blah)".  A couple posters would even post in a way to make the bounced individual feel stupid for even thinking of entering a country other than his own and idiotic for not cleaning up any online presence in anticipation for making good on his foolhardy dream of entering a country, spending a bit of money, and leaving.

It's the times we live in.  Whether or not the threat justifies authorities acting in our names to lose all perspective (and it's happened in both countries) is another matter entirely.

Also, quite a few people have either been caught before a shooting incident from their online postings or, like in Norway, found all the crazy internet stuff after the fact.

The internet is a big place and who knows what else this couple may have had out there that they didn't find.

No one wants to be the guy who let a nutcase pass through the gates who goes on to kill some innocent people. 

Of course not, but sometimes there seems to be very little reason in authorities' decisions.  Instead, they'd rather apply blanket precautions.  That would make sense when there is some doubt, but in cases like these, there is no doubt it was a joke.

I understand when the occasional /b/ poster ends up being arrested for a joke where context didn't make it clear that it was a joke.  I would even understand erring on the side of caution.  This isn't one of those cases.  They aren't even erring in the same postcode as caution.

What results is a chilling effect on speech.  I guess I think it's a horrible thing for people to have to police their speech for fear of overzealous law enforcement/government using it as an excuse to flex their muscle where you'd have to be an absolute idiot to interpret the speech as a threat.

What about the 1st amendment? surely that covers twitter as well?

Not sure what the First Amendment has to do with anything.  You can say whatever you want, but that doesn't mean the US has any obligation to let you into the country.