Callum Robertson

TWITTER AIRPORT THREAT

INTRO

• The Tweet - "Robin Hood Airport is closed. You've got a week... otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!" – Paul Chambers, 27

• Read by airport staff and passed onto airport security.

• Security didn’t think it was high risk, but passed it on to police special branch.

• He was arrested at his work and sent to court.

PROSECUTION & DEFENCE• Accused of sending “a message of menacing character”

• Chambers said "It did not cross my mind that Robin Hood [airport] would ever look at Twitter or take it seriously because it was innocuous hyperbole.“

• Ben Emmerson QC, an expert on Human Rights, stated that if someone was intending on blowing up an airport, it was highly unlikely that they would post it publicly on twitter

• In the end he was found guilty, and fined £385, with additional costs of £600.

BACKLASH• There was a very public backlash from this particular case

• The conviction of chambers lead to the “#IAmSpartacus” campaign, which involved around 4,000 people tweeting the same tweet that got Chambers convicted. Mimicking the sign of solidarity from the film Spartacus). None of these people were arrested.

• This hash tag trended globally, and was the most popular hashtag in the UK, second most popular being “#twitterjoketrial”

• Al Murray, the popular comedian attended Chambers’ trial, stating “This situation is Monty Python. It is absurd, bonkers. It means we cannot post what we want on Twitter, or say what we want - that is incredible to me.”

ATTITUDES• This is a prime example of old values and attitudes towards communication being

exercised

• A combination of irony, hyperbole and sarcasm is used vastly all over Online Social Communication, as well as the internet in general and the tweet, which clearly falls under these definitions, was completely taken out of context.

• In this case, the law was far too oppressive on OSC, purely because of outdated attitudes of the Judge that convicted Chambers

• If the tweet was spoken in general conversation there would have been no arrest, but this shows how varying attitudes can affect the relationship between OSC and the law.

• Presumably over the next few years cases like this will fade out, as wider audience become familiar with OSC and its characteristics.