Twitter terrorism

We've reached a new low, folks.

Yes, someone has been arrested under suspicion of terrorism based on their Twitter account.

Oh dear.

It seems one cannot make a joke without being arrested these days.

The joke may have been in poor taste, but it was also clearly a joke. What good would it do someone to blow up the airport from which they intend to depart?

This alleged democracy we live in supposedly allows freedom of speech, and as the internet is yet to be regulated that should extend as far as Twitter.

To be fair, terrorism is a serious issue (sort of) and so we should try and clamp down on it. But the precedent that this sets is an extremely dangerous one.

In 1989, Bill Hicks, my personal idol, released a video of a stand-up show called Sane Man.

Its opening featured a comedy bit in which he encouraged hi-jacking of planes that he saw on the news and even fantasised about doing it himself (albeit to get the plane to its original destination on time).

Does this make Hicks a suspected terrorist? I mean he's been dead since '94 so digging him up and putting him on trial wouldn't help, but I'm trying to make a point here.

And as far as the comment being on Twitter, this is where we really get into dangerous territory.

The internet has been a safehaven for keyboard bullying for the best part of a decade now.

It allows someone in Alaska to talk to someone in Kamchatca with only a split-second delay between their replies.

Twitter is the hot website to be on at the moment, which will be why this guy got noticed. But I think if the police started trawling the back catalogues of many online forums they'd be horrified by what they found.

Threats of rape, murder, and yes, terrorism, all meant in jest and all arrest-worthy by the standard set in this case.

And this is quite apart from the fact that the internet is a global phenomenon and can't really be policed by any singular set of laws.

So where do we go from here?

Someone innocent has already died in Britain as a result of anti-terror legislation. The only question is how much worse things can get from there.