Wat

[I Merk]

In an online world where anyone can hide behind a mask of virtual anonymity, it can be easy to get carried away and do things deemed unconscionable in real life. However, one Mississippi man is facing up to ten years in jail after a half-hearted threat made in a game brought the federal authorities to his door.

In October 2012, Josh Pillault, 19, was playing Runescapeâ€"an online, multiplayer fantasy game in which users all over the globe interact and fight in a virtual worldâ€"when a fellow player antagonized him so badly, Pillault threatened to perpetrate a Columbine-like attack on his local high school.

Soon after, federal officers searched Pillault’s home and arrested him in connection with the threat, despite not finding any materials he could have used to attack the school, nor any reason why he actually would.

“His doctors have said he wouldn’t hurt himself or anyone else,” wrote Stacey Pillault, Josh’s mother, to The Daily Caller. “We actually have teachers who were willing to testify that they knew it wasn’t a true threat as soon as they found out it was Josh. Even his fellow inmates and guards have commented on how they can’t believe he is still in there.”

Even so, the authorities retained him, and Pillault plead guilty to a charge of that can land him in jail for the next decade and levy a $250,500 fine with the hopes of a lighter sentence.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/crime/josh-pillault-face-ten-years-jail-after-online-threat-goes-awry

[Kryptonite]

It's cuz our government is a huge p*ssy and soooooooooo scared of terrorist attacks or something, even though that's not really a big terrorist attack.

On a side note, I'm planning on hijacking an airplane and bombing all of America in a few days who wants to help?

Anyone wanna make bets on how many days til I go to prison after posting that?

[Ry60003333]

It is so stupid that this kid is going to jail for what he said. I understand if the police look into the thread, but once they found out that the kid wasn't planning anything, they should just drop it and let him go with a warning. In fact, they should really punish the kid who provoked him into saying the threat and then called the police on him.

[Krest I V]

I think all parties involved (the two kids in trouble, and the people that provoked them) should be going to like a class or something, or maybe a week in juvie, but this is ridiculous. Also, eating still beating hearts of school children is a good source of protein... just saying.

[I Merk]

Yeah, the whole situation was blown way out of proportion. I guarantee people have said much worse things on the internet (including myself) and got away with it.

[Binary]

Are you guys serious? No one should be punished. Or be forced to go to a class. The past few decades has been the successful pussification of America to where people aren't even willing to call dark humor for what it is; humor. If the government would stop being so busy unconstitutionally wiretapping us to see if we're all terrorists, they would have more time to better understand more important things, like the psyche of Internet users. Anyone who has a f*cking passing familiarity with the Internet knows all about trolls and that it's anything but serious, yet people are going to jail for saying a joke (perhaps in poor taste, but still a JOKE!)

As for the kid who provoked him into saying it, no he shouldn't be punished. Unless the report was lying, the guy who said it clearly didn't mean it. So what was he "provoked" into doing? Making someone tell a joke?

Yeah, the whole situation was blown way out of proportion. I guarantee people have said much worse things on the internet (including myself) and got away with it.

Scroll up the topic :P

[Jake]

Shii, I commit myself to things 40x worse than this on a daily basis. That's actually outrageous.

Wonder if he will give me his account though...