#JarvisBritton may have just been ?playing? with his Twitter comments, but #Obama?s secret service didn?t think it was funny.
A federal grand jury has charged and indicted a man in Birmingham, Alabama for allegedly threatening the life of U.S. President Barack Obama (@BarackObama) on Twitter. According to the jury, Jarvis Britton (@iTweet_Unspok3n) was given a single count of indictment for purposefully threatening the life of the world leader.The charge against Britton was related to knowingly threatening to inflict bodily harm, kidnap or kill Obama, according to U.S. lawyer Joyce Vance.
Here are some of Britton's posts on various occasions.
Vance cited that threats on global leaders, especially the president, are considered to be very grave and serious matters, no matter how harmless the online user intended the post to be.
This will hopefully be an example to many others who are using social media sites to vent out their frustrations or share jokes. Many individuals have been charged in the past for making threats and other derogatory remarks. Libel and these types of threats can have online users charged with felonies. This is not the first time that a person has been charged for posting libelous remarks via Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. People have to be careful about the things they post online, according to Twitter officials. Members are given a 140-character limit and are generally free to post whatever they like. There are, however, limitations as placed on the stipulations and guidelines of the website (Read more on Twitter Etiquette). Online users can also report and indicate if they find other users abusing the use of the site. In other cases, government agents or the authorities can track users to file the appropriate charges. The youth also have to be aware of the risks and consequences of tweeting different things online. Jokes can easily be misconstrued or even deemed dangerous by certain agencies.
