Man Arrested for Airport 'Bomb Threat' Tweet
A British man has been banned from Robin Hood airport for making comments about blowing the place "sky high."
The UK experienced some very nasty weather recently. With buckets of snow and very icy conditions, many of the country's airports were opening and closing like swing doors.
Paul Chambers was planning a little holiday to Ireland during this particularly bad patch. The week before he was due to fly, he began to worry that he might not make it to the Emerald Isle because of the snow. "Robin Hood airport is closed," he tweeted. "You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"
Fast forward a few days, and the police are knocking on his door having received a tip from a member of the public. Paul was arrested under the Terrorism Act and questioned for 7 hours.
"I had to explain Twitter to them in its entirety because they'd never heard of it," Chambers told the Independent. "Then they asked all about my home life, and how work was going, and other personal things. The lead investigator kept asking, 'Do you understand why this is happening?' and saying, 'It is the world we live in'."
After that he was sent back to his cell. An hour later he was released on bail until February 11, when he will be told whether or not he will be charged with conspiring to create a bomb hoax.
In the mean time, his iPhone, laptop and desktop computer have been confiscated. He has also been banned for life from Robin Hood Airport.
- White House Lands App on iPhone, iPod Touch
- Sega Launching Genesis Emulator for iPhone
- Microsoft Suing TiVo Over Patent Infringement
- Report: Apple and MSFT Team Up Against Google
- 1 in 5 Women Have Dumped Partners Over Gaming
- NYT.com Announces Subscription Model for 2011
- Sony's Motion Controller Delayed Until the Fall
- One Third of 11-Year-Olds Have Cell Phones
- Science Project Causes Bomb Scare, Evacuation
- Halo: Reach Screenshots Hit the Internet
- Nintendo DS R4 Importer Sentenced to Prison
- YouTube Introduces Movie Rentals
- No Lie: Nintendo Publishing Digital Romance Novels
- Haiti: Man Uses iPhone and Camera to Survive
- George Lucas Seriously Considering Star Wars 3D
- Report: AT&T Must Spend $5 Billion to Catch Up
- Final Fantasy 1, 2, Coming to iPhone, iPod Touch
- 'Avatar' Viewers Going Into Pandora Withdrawl
- US Airways Passenger's Xbox 360 Gets Gutted
yup, make a stupid comment without thinking and there is a good chance you will regret it....especially if said stupid comment concerns an airport and a bomb.
Wow we are just a little bit too paranoid these days. It seems the terrorist have already won..
Yes, indeed. He was really arrested for stupidity.
Wow we are just a little bit too paranoid these days. It seems the terrorist have already won..
So... bomb threats are legal where you live?
I'm betting he's not getting there anytime soon.
'Do you understand why this is happening?' and saying, 'It is the world we live in'.
I kinda take that as even the cops think the situation was stupid!
Is obviously not even an attempted hoax or even a pretend hoax...
"The world we live in" is fast becoming Captain paranoia's paradise (or worst nightmare).
What happened to common sense, where we now get people saying things like:
To such a situation as this - where he OBVIOUSLY meant jokingly (KNOWING nature was kinda having a hand in things – Lots of Snow):
"Pull it together lads, I want to get away on holiday in a week!
or even tamer:
"oh Jolly Gosh, I do hope the snow clears up in time for my little jaunt over to the Emerald Isle!"
What IDIOT member of the public would Really take that Twitter and report him. THAT person needs counselling in common sense!!!
Jees people, get your heads screwed back on PLEASE
So you actually believe a Twitter like that is REALLY a bomb threat.
Come on, it was not even delivered to any relevant party…
Have you been staking Stupid pills of something???
just great! now any trace of real terrorist online chatter will cease and only civilians will get arrested for silly comments. what they're trying to tell you is if u wana do smthg bad... keep it to yourself ,stupid paranoid governments.
What happened to common sense
common sense dictates that you don't make bomb threats. All he could have said was "eff this airport, eff the snow". hell common sense says he should have protected his tweets from strangers but he couldn't even do that.
What bomb threat, bomb threats are usually just that - used mainly by the IRA to get people they Don't want killed out of the building.
Real terrorist threats are the bombs themselves - They DO NOT usually warn the target - Hence almost Never is a Bomb Threat with the terrorists of today.
This was a twitter that did not get delivered to the airport or police right...?
Any halfwit can see he was talking jokingly about the Weather.
common sense dictates that you don't make bomb threats. All he could have said was "eff this airport, eff the snow". hell common sense says he should have protected his tweets from strangers but he couldn't even do that.
common sense tells you that ppl dont go blowing up airports cos they can't use them due to weather conditions .... even if they post it as a comment .....
What IDIOT member of the public would Really take that Twitter and report him. THAT person needs counselling in common sense!!!Jees people, get your heads screwed back on PLEASE
What is wrong with having this checked out? Would you feel the same if you had loved ones flying out of that airport? We have the benefit of hindsight where inforamation is available because someone checked out.
"So... bomb threats are legal where you live?"
Bomb threats, no they are not legal. But it's sad when such a tweet is actually considered a "bomb threat". This paranoid society is going downhill fast and people like you aren't helping.
indeed
Hopefully common sense will pull through.
The Apple shop one, yeah that was Stupid, and effectivly a "delivered threat" --- barely.
This was a Tweet and not delivered Anywhere. The person reporting him needs their head examined.
The rule is simple: No bomb threats - joking or not. That's the way it works (for good reason). You don't get to make a personal decision about it.
What bomb threat, bomb threats are usually just that - used mainly by the IRA to get people they Don't want killed out of the building.Real terrorist threats are the bombs themselves - They DO NOT usually warn the target - Hence almost Never is a Bomb Threat with the terrorists of today.This was a twitter that did not get delivered to the airport or police right...?Any halfwit can see he was talking jokingly about the Weather.
conclusion: always type the word "JOKING or Just kidding/JK" at the end of every threat you type.
example: "I KILL YOU /JK" .....it can save your life. /JK
So you actually believe a Twitter like that is REALLY a bomb threat. Come on, it was not even delivered to any relevant party…Have you been staking Stupid pills of something???
Not sure what I said to deserve an insult from you. I believe that threats like this one should be looked into regardless of the medium used to record them.
You seriously think a personal tweet of:
needed LOTS of wasted Police time to investigate???
toms hardware u better have better articles or i am gonna blow it up sky high. lol
(are u telling me that i am going to get into trouble for this.)
What you said is you would go along with the idea of:
Yes Lets Set the Police on him and see if he gets arrested and charged hahaha
99.9% of sane people would have been able to see what he meant. I still don't think the majority of this world is that Nuts! I hope
You seriously think a personal tweet of:needed LOTS of wasted Police time to investigate???
I think it is amazing that you are able to ascertain the posters mental state, intent and ability just from the information given before the officers checked it out.
That's really sad. 10 years ago the comment would have been considered harmless, bad taste at worst. Unfortunately for him, it's the present day, not a decade ago. While I understand his frustration leading to the comment, he should have been more conscientious of the wording he used relating to an airport.
That being said, it's ridiculous that a bad taste comment on twitter got this guy arrested, interrogated and banned for life from an airport.
I think Any half decent lawyer would get him off and make sure he got a nice Fat compensation cheque in this case.
"Fear will keep them in line." - Governor Tarkin
What, you mean you can't???
How do you encourage terrorism?
Prove that it works. Just like above!
What, you mean you can't???
The situation is one where guessing wrong will cost a few dollars. The cost of guessing wrong is in lives. It was stupid of this guy to type such a threat and acceptible for it to be reported to the police who then checked it. The police did check it which means that they couldn't read his mind either.
Now when the Father of the pants bomber (CEO or something of his countries main bank I think it was) reported his Own son for Al-Qaida sympathies / conections and nothing happens...
or this poor dude.
Which guy got arrested.
Now tell me which situation is mad here???
What is wrong with having this checked out? Would you feel the same if you had loved ones flying out of that airport? We have the benefit of hindsight where inforamation is available because someone checked out.
See, this is what is wrong with the world today. I'm not a coward like you, and know that overreacting to each and every little thing lets the terrorists win. They WANT us looking over our shoulders and jumping at every little thing.
If terrorism didn't produce the desired results, they'd stop doing it. People like you just provide encouragement.
Now when the Father of the pants bomber (CEO or something of his countries main bank I think it was) reported his Own son for Al-Qaida sympathies / conections and nothing happens...or this poor dude.Which guy got arrested.Now tell me which situation is mad here???
Both warranted checking to see if there was an issue.
The incident with the pants bomber should have been investigated quickly as well.
djackson_dba
Maybe what I am getting at with my "What, you mean you can't???" statement is the equivalent of:
King Rat Example of English Understatement.
Paul Chambers (arrested airport dude) is English in England. His comment should have been understood by all. It is a Clear part of the way we use English in our understanding of what he meant.
There is Very obviously no bomb threat here and is something that should have never been reported even.