Tom Daley Twitter row

[Leicfox]

If Tom Daley's dad is going to feel let down because his son came fourth in the Olympic diving...

Just wait until he finds out he's gay.

Srry but .

How is Ian Thorpe not gay?

[Rocket-Ron]

The problem with what you're saying though is that it was everyone ripping into him that set him off. He made that first insensitive, tasteless tweet and then apologised for it. Everyone else found out about it from the tv and ripped into him and that's when he started issuing the death threats which he continued doing after he'd been informed the police were monitoring him. It would probably have all died down if everyone had ignored it

Most of Tom Daleys followers found out when Tom re-tweeted it.

[Leicester_Numan]

Most of Tom Daleys followers found out when Tom re-tweeted it.

I'm not one of his followers, like most people, I found out about it from the tv and checked out all the tweets

[Leicester_Numan]

Im just looking at the bigger picture here, all the stuff in the news in the previous 12 months about internet freedoms and in turn personal freedoms, stuff like this fuels the blaze

As weve seen a small case is only a small case, unless you add a celebrity into the matter, which also looks the deal here.

Furthermore, this scallywag is no threat to any but himself with comments like those.

Im sure the Daley and his setup are more than prepared for pretty much any situation, this guy is'nt even a bump in the road

I hope he gets dealt with appropriately, but if I see another a**e faced politician going on about controlling the internet from this I wont be happy

I agree with you in terms of internet use and freedom of speech, but freedom of speech doesn't include making death threats. Let's not forget he also threatened to shoot Olly Riley just for defending Daley

[accessory]

The troll had been posting racist, threatening and abusive crap on Twitter (and YouTube) for weeks.

Daley did him a favour by alerting us to his existence. Maybe he'll now get the help he needs to deal with his issues.

[Super_horns]

As far as I am aware it wasn't Tom Daely who reported this guy...others did.

It seems he wasn't just arrested for this single tweet either.

Basically this lad is clearly some sort of of bully who would probably make such comments everyday to people at school or whatever and had taken advantage of the social media to abuse a popular person on Twitter.

Trouble for the police is if they don't do somethingf and he then does something more serious like beat another person up they will get stick for not sorting the situation out before it got that far...

Maybe the issue is that they need to be consistent and not just react when somebody well known gets abuse as I am sure many people have on various sites but nothing happens.

[Leicester_Numan]

Others may have reported the first tweets. I read all the tweets. It was Olly Riley who tweeted Dorset police to alert them to the first death threats. They tweeted back to say they were monitoring it. He then tweeted this troll to tell him that the police were monitoring him and he made more death threats. No sane person would have done that. That in my opinion is what makes him potentially dangerous and he can't be let off with just a warning

[Dames]

As horrible as what's been said people seem to forget its just a very angry keyboard warrior taking out his frustrations in life on the internet. Its a little bit of a mockery that he's been arrested for it, yes what he's been said is wrong but freedom of speech and all that. Its also funny how the police are overlooking all the people that tweeted this lad calling him horrible things and sending death threats too which didn't help this guys rage and definitely provoked him into the majority of what he said.

Its Twitter, a social media website used to express ones views and opinions if you don't like someone elses opinions block or unfollow them etc the police have no right really to arrest someone and subject them to that kind of distress for something so little.

Ps I also think the FA charging footballers for what they say on Twitter is also over zealous, we are not North Korea for god sake.

[Captain...]

As horrible as what's been said people seem to forget its just a very angry keyboard warrior taking out his frustrations in life on the internet. Its a little bit of a mockery that he's been arrested for it, yes what he's been said is wrong but freedom of speech and all that. Its also funny how the police are overlooking all the people that tweeted this lad calling him horrible things and sending death threats too which didn't help this guys rage and definitely provoked him into the majority of what he said.

Its Twitter, a social media website used to express ones views and opinions if you don't like someone elses opinions block or unfollow them etc the police have no right really to arrest someone and subject them to that kind of distress for something so little.

Ps I also think the FA charging footballers for what they say on Twitter is also over zealous, we are not North Korea for god sake.

He is clearly a little unhinged, as I said before he could probably do with a bit of anger management and professional help, he is clearly not mature enough to handle being on Twitter and should be banned and encouraged to have some normal social interactions. He doesn't deserve a criminal record but he does need to learn that you can't just say what you want to who you want, and you can't respond to criticism with death threats. If you started threatening people in the street someone would rightly call the police.

As for footballers, they represent the fa and their comments made on Twitter should be dealt within the same way comments in press conferences are, if they don't like it they should make their tweets private. Free speech is not a license to be a twat.

[Nick]

He is clearly a little unhinged, as I said before he could probably do with a bit of anger management and professional help, he is clearly not mature enough to handle being on Twitter and should be banned and encouraged to have some normal social interactions. He doesn't deserve a criminal record but he does need to learn that you can't just say what you want to who you want, and you can't respond to criticism with death threats. If you started threatening people in the street someone would rightly call the police.

As for footballers, they represent the fa and their comments made on Twitter should be dealt within the same way comments in press conferences are, if they don't like it they should make their tweets private. Free speech is not a license to be a twat.

This.

[Dames]

He is clearly a little unhinged, as I said before he could probably do with a bit of anger management and professional help, he is clearly not mature enough to handle being on Twitter and should be banned and encouraged to have some normal social interactions. He doesn't deserve a criminal record but he does need to learn that you can't just say what you want to who you want, and you can't respond to criticism with death threats. If you started threatening people in the street someone would rightly call the police.

As for footballers, they represent the fa and their comments made on Twitter should be dealt within the same way comments in press conferences are, if they don't like it they should make their tweets private. Free speech is not a license to be a twat.

You hit the nail on the head regarding the lad, twitter should have banned him when they seen the trend getting out of control and the abuse he was giving and recieving.

As for the free speech doesnt give you a licence to be a twat though i have to disagree, rio was just having a little ribbing at someone were led to believe is a good friend. You say press conferences but they are in a professional setting. Twitter is on a personal level away from the work place and people shouldnt be punished for what they say on it unless its outright sick or disgusting. I doubt many people on here would stand for getting fined by thier workplace for twitter banter whilst your at home away from the workplace with another colleauge so i dont see why footballers have to put up with it as well.

[Nick]

You hit the nail on the head regarding the lad, twitter should have banned him when they seen the trend getting out of control and the abuse he was giving and recieving.

As for the free speech doesnt give you a licence to be a twat though i have to disagree, rio was just having a little ribbing at someone were led to believe is a good friend. You say press conferences but they are in a professional setting. Twitter is on a personal level away from the work place and people shouldnt be punished for what they say on it unless its outright sick or disgusting. I doubt many people on here would stand for getting fined by thier workplace for twitter banter whilst your at home away from the workplace with another colleauge so i dont see why footballers have to put up with it as well.

I see your point but disagree.

It's a toughie attempting to address social responsibility and balance it with private and personal dialogue based on principles of free speech.

Twitter is not a private conversation away from work.

And to promote different values in private to what One does in public is a bit institutionalised. Like telling racist jokes with white people in a little backwater pub because it's okay due to no black people being present?

The whole balance of what is public and what is private has shifted due to the accessibility of social networking and people need to recognise and be responsible for that.

[ADK]

Arresting teenagers for writing abusive messsages on the internet is hardly a good use of public money.

[Nick]

Arresting teenagers for writing abusive messsages on the internet is hardly a good use of public money.

I think that depends on wether or not you are a victim of those teenagers and also if arrest is the only current route that leads to an intervention to prevent further occurrences of said behaviour. And there is a difference between abuse and sick trolling and threats of violence and death.

[Captain...]

I see your point but disagree.

It's a toughie attempting to address social responsibility and balance it with private and personal dialogue based on principles of free speech.

Twitter is not a private conversation away from work.

And to promote different values in private to what One does in public is a bit institutionalised. Like telling racist jokes with white people in a little backwater pub because it's okay due to no black people being present?

The whole balance of what is public and what is private has shifted due to the accessibility of social networking and people need to recognise and be responsible for that.

Completely agree, the Rio case is an interesting one because it wasn't him that said it, but by retweeting to all his followers, all of which only follow him because he is a footballer, you are giving it validity and sharing that opinion, that he showed he agreed with, to thousands of football fans.

[Dames]

I see your point but disagree.

It's a toughie attempting to address social responsibility and balance it with private and personal dialogue based on principles of free speech.

Twitter is not a private conversation away from work.

And to promote different values in private to what One does in public is a bit institutionalised. Like telling racist jokes with white people in a little backwater pub because it's okay due to no black people being present?

The whole balance of what is public and what is private has shifted due to the accessibility of social networking and people need to recognise and be responsible for that.

I wouldn't say its a case of promoting different values.

Its the fact that whilst twitter whilst it is publicly accessable to an extent still remains a personal communication medium and the FA has no right to dive in and fine players left right and center ethically its still the same as them going through your phone and fining you for every naughty picture of your mrs or every politcally incorrect joke.

There is also the arguement that Rio was simply replying to the bloke thus making it not rios actual comment as some twitter programs copy the whole of the persons previous tweet when you reply to them.

[Nick]

It's a public communication medium not a personal or private one - that's a fact

His phone wasn't hacked by the news of the world he openly pressed send to an audience of millions.

[Captain...]

I wouldn't say its a case of promoting different values.

Its the fact that whilst twitter whilst it is publicly accessable to an extent still remains a personal communication medium and the FA has no right to dive in and fine players left right and center ethically its still the same as them going through your phone and fining you for every naughty picture of your mrs or every politcally incorrect joke.

There is also the arguement that Rio was simply replying to the bloke thus making it not rios actual comment as some twitter programs copy the whole of the persons previous tweet when you reply to them.

It is not a private personal conversation, it is a public broadcast that anyone can see, if they at least went to the extent of privatising their account and being selective over who follows them rather than just trying to acquire as many followers as possible, then you may have a point.

Secondly they use it as method of communication about their job, football, so their comments reflect on football as a sport, if they were using it to promote their hobby as a musician or something then it would be different. Start a twitter account about your job, get all of your customers to follow you then post something offensive, or re-tweet something offensive, see how your boss likes it. (whether or not choc ice is an offensive term is for the FA to decide).

Thirdly, the retweet argument doesn't work, if you use your work e-mail account to e-mail offensive pictures around the office that someone else sent you, you are the one that will be punished, and not the person who sent it to you.

[Dames]

It's a public communication medium not a personal or private one - that's a fact

His phone wasn't hacked by the news of the world he openly pressed send to an audience of millions.

It allows you to set privacy settings therefore its private no matter how many people 'follow' just the process of approving each follower is a long one so its easier and probably more egotistical in the case of famous people to just let anyone follow you. Even if he had the privacy settings set you'd still get journalists going all out to get approved so they can spy etc so again its just easier to keep them unset before people start saying it should be private.

Just to clarify though my arguement isnt about what he's said as yes its very very tame either way. Its the fact that this organisation can just barge in and start fining for any comment that might even seem a little off, i know the FA are struggling for cash but this is desperate. They dont pay his wages all they do is hold a registration that allows him to compete in thier leagues and the simple fact is that this tweet or opinion or whatever was not stated during one of thier events through one of thier communication mediums thus meaning they should have no jurisdiction.

[Dames]

It is not a private personal conversation, it is a public broadcast that anyone can see, if they at least went to the extent of privatising their account and being selective over who follows them rather than just trying to acquire as many followers as possible, then you may have a point.

Secondly they use it as method of communication about their job, football, so their comments reflect on football as a sport, if they were using it to promote their hobby as a musician or something then it would be different. Start a twitter account about your job, get all of your customers to follow you then post something offensive, or re-tweet something offensive, see how your boss likes it. (whether or not choc ice is an offensive term is for the FA to decide).

Thirdly, the retweet argument doesn't work, if you use your work e-mail account to e-mail offensive pictures around the office that someone else sent you, you are the one that will be punished, and not the person who sent it to you.

Again if the email around the work office is during work hours or using the company email then yes you should be punished. If its out of hours using a non company medium then no it shouldnt which is the case with Ferdinand.

People throw the same old arguement that they are in the public spotlight and should behave as such and just seem to be out for blood in the case of footballers. 'normal' people dont have to put up with this and neither should footballers regardless of thier amount of fame and the amount they get paid.

And he started the account to be Rio Ferdinand he jumped on the bandwagon like everyone else just people followed him because they recognised him as someone famous and we all know how obsessed everyone in this country is about celebrities and famous people.

I wasnt saying the retweet was a valid argument but some twitter applications use a method to reply where it posts what the other person said in quotation marks so everyone who follows sees. Sometimes to save convinience its quicker to put your reply at the end, laziness really.

[Nick]

Twitter surely can not be classified as a private communication medium just because it has a platform which allows a user to control privacy settings.

Wether the FA should or shouldn't have jurisdiction over the regulation of players public utterances is not the issue. The fact is that they currently judge whether or not the public actions of those registered with their organisation bring the game into disrepute and this was a very public action which had extremely potentially provocative undertones.

[Dames]

Twitter surely can not be classified as a private communication medium just because it has a platform which allows a user to control privacy settings.

Wether the FA should or shouldn't have jurisdiction over the regulation of players public utterances is not the issue. The fact is that they currently judge whether or not the public actions of those registered with their organisation bring the game into disrepute and this was a very public action which had extremely potentially provocative undertones.

I did a unit on social networking at uni (Forensic Computing) and the general given rule is as long as it allows you to set private settings the social media sites in question are still regarded as a personal expression of opinion and a private way of communication or something along those lines.

The simple thing to do with the FA is to come out and say these are not the opinions shared by the FA but by the individual. If they want to make themself look a twat in the public eye, let them its thier reputation not the FAs.

[Corky]

Arresting teenagers for writing abusive messsages on the internet is hardly a good use of public money.

But it could be the start of something worse, you just don't know that.

I would rather the risk isn't taken.

[Nick]

I did a unit on social networking at uni (Forensic Computing) and the general given rule is as long as it allows you to set private settings the social media sites in question are still regarded as a personal exp<b></b>ression of opinion and a private way of communication or something along those lines.

The simple thing to do with the FA is to come out and say these are not the opinions shared by the FA but by the individual. If they want to make themself look a twat in the public eye, let them its thier reputation not the FAs.

If a footballer with a million followers tweets or retweets something related to football about another footballer in the highest profile case of its kind this country has ever seen there is no given rule anywhere to suggest this should remain as private opinion especially when it directly reflects on professional values which it is the FAs responsibility to uphold.

[Captain...]

I did a unit on social networking at uni (Forensic Computing) and the general given rule is as long as it allows you to set private settings the social media sites in question are still regarded as a personal expression of opinion and a private way of communication or something along those lines.

The simple thing to do with the FA is to come out and say these are not the opinions shared by the FA but by the individual. If they want to make themself look a twat in the public eye, let them its thier reputation not the FAs.

The way I see it is twitter is a form of Media, a social media, and should come under the same regulations.

If Ferdinand or any other footballer made offensive comments in a press conference or in their newspaper column, then they would get punished because they have signed an agreement with the FA as part of their registration with the FA to not bring the game of football into disrepute, by their actions on the pitch and off it. As the comment is over a footballing matter and made in a public media then it falls under that category.