In May, UK citizen Paul Chambers was convicted of sending a ‘menacing’ tweet via Twitter, with the British Court fining him £2500 and slapping him with a criminal record.
In early January, the airport in South Yorkshire was closed due to excessive snow and Chambers was so mad that he wrote: “Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your s*** together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!”
Airport security officials saw the tweet and then passed on the complaint to the local authorities.
Chambers lost his job after being arrested, and was the first person to ever be convicted of a crime just for tweeting.
This week, a judge has refused to overturn the conviction, effectively ending Chamber’s appeal.
The judge then yelled at the courtroom as a number of those sitting in the crowd were tweeting updates as the case progressed.
Thousands of Chamber’s supporters took to Twitter after the decision, using the “trending topic” #IAmSpartacus to post menacing messages, with some threatening to blow up the White House, Downing Street, “everyone” and all other types of nouns.
Result for: authorities
The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) have seized 7000 pirated video games from a 35-year old Saskatoon man’s residence and charges are currently pending.
RCMP officials say, if sold authentically, the games would be worth $200,000.
The citizen had his house raided following an investigation “into intellectual property crime offences,” adds the police.
More specifically, the authorities were looking into the sale of gaming consoles that were modded to be able to play pirated games.
The man had been advertising the modded consoles via online ads.
Authorities noted that the plethora of games and consoles including systems from Nintendo, Sony, Sega, and Microsoft.
Result for: authorities
Over the past few months, the Chinese Ministry of Culture has identified 185 sites that infringe on copyrights, adding that the sites violate regulations and do not have licenses to distribute music.
Since April, 23 of those sites have shut down, and the Ministry is still actively investigating the others.
The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) has applauded the recent actions:
“It is good news that the authorities are taking action against some infringing websites, but there are many more illegal music services that continue to operate with impunity,” says Leong Mayseey, IFPI regional director for Asia, (via Billboard).
“Only 23 of the original 185 websites identified by the Ministry of Culture have been taken down and it is not clear what penalties, if any, their operators face. If China wants its creative sector to punch its weight globally, it must do more to create a widespread climate of respect for intellectual property.”
Continuing, the director says: “We hope to see the authorities following this welcome development with further action against services that illegally build their businesses by abusing other people’s rights.”
