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Twitter Sarcastic Airport Bomb Threat Results in Arrest
Paul Chambers’ (http://twitter.com/PauljChambers now blocked from view) January 7, 2010 tweet, "Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!", resulted in him being arrested one week later by the British police (Robin Hood Airport is located outside Doncaster, in Yorkshire, England) for the purported bomb hoax under anti-terrorism legislation. He was also reportedly suspended from work and had his smart phone and computer confiscated: so much for his planned flight to Ireland which he feared would be delayed or cancelled for snow. Chambers denies the charge, saying the post was a joke. As a contributor to the Twitter social networking site, in which participants broadcast messages to followers in 140 character increments, Mr. Chambers’ apolitical Twitter bio (“ Film-watching, football-loving, rubbish-talking, hyphen-using idiot.”) seems to make his defence for him. Clearly, however, the damage to Mr. Chambers has been done – but for what public benefit?
This is the first Twitter related arrest in the U.K., but there have been others in the U.S., including the high profile arrests during the Pittsburgh G20 Summit, where two men used Twitter to notify fellow protesters of police locations.
For additional information, visit:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/18/robin-hood-airport-twitter-arrest
For information on the previous G20 arrests, visit:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/04/man-arrested-twitter-g20-us
For the Terrorism Act 2006 (UK), c. 11, visit:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/pdf/ukpga_20060011_en.pdf