A Sydney teen, en route to a Pink concert, tweets about "Timebomb," but shortens it to "Bomb." He is arrested at the venue and now faces charges. The arena authorities weren't tickled. (Credit: Fairfax Media Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET) Hey, kids. You know that "Big Brother Is Watching You" thing? Well, I just wanted to remind you that Big Brother has a bit of a temper and much less of a sense of humor or context. I mention this because it isn't just a teen in Texas who's been arrested for making a joke on a social network. A teen in Warrnambool, Australia, was arrested Sunday night for tweeting about Pink's song As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, this teen was so excited to see Pink in concert at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne that he tweeted: "@Pink I'm ready with my Bomb. Time to blow up #RodLaverArena. Bitch." What the tweet lacked in elegance was made up for in passion. The authorities, however, decided it was the wrong sort of passion. The boy was arrested at the concert, after police allegedly looked at his Twitter profile picture and then spotted him in the 12,000-strong crowd. There might be some who would wonder whether the authorities didn't track him down using the GPS location on the teen's cell phone. The teen's father, Dave King, told 3AW Radio that it was the arena authorities who demanded the teen be arrested. King said: "The policeman said to me, 'If it was up to me, I would have booted him in the backside and said go home.'" He added, somewhat unconvincingly, that his 16-year-old son didn't have "time" to write the whole word "Timebomb." More Technically Incorrect The first arrest filmed on Google Glass? Kobe, Lakers, and Dwight Howard: Antisocial media Leaning on a window? Hey, here's an ad pumped into your brain Samsung's weirdest 'Apple is rotten' ad ever Russian spy proposes to Edward Snowden on Twitter I say "unconvincingly" because the boy's sister told the Herald Sun that her "Grade A student" brother "forgot to put the Time on there." She accused the stadium security of being overly physical: "They pulled him; they threw him on the ground and locked him up." She said seven members of the security staff sat on her brother during the apprehension. A spokeswoman for the arena explained to the Herald: "From our point of view, we have systems in place to monitor social media to ensure the safety and security of the venue, of guests and performers." The teen is being charged with creating a public nuisance and behaving in a threatening manner. It seems that the tweet came to the authorities' attention specifically because the boy had added the #RodLaverArena hashtag. Judgment is a difficult skill. It fails us more often than not. In this case, the teen didn't stop to judge how his tweet might be interpreted -- or did he? Equally, the arena authorities judged that he should be dealt with severely. I wonder what a judge will say. How do you read it? (Credit: Fairfax Media Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)
A Sydney teen, en route to a Pink concert, tweets about "Timebomb," but shortens it to "Bomb." He is arrested at the venue and now faces charges.
The arena authorities weren't tickled.
(Credit: Fairfax Media Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)
Hey, kids. You know that "Big Brother Is Watching You" thing?
Well, I just wanted to remind you that Big Brother has a bit of a temper and much less of a sense of humor or context.
I mention this because it isn't just a teen in Texas who's been arrested for making a joke on a social network.
A teen in Warrnambool, Australia, was arrested Sunday night for tweeting about Pink's song
As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, this teen was so excited to see Pink in concert at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne that he tweeted: "@Pink I'm ready with my Bomb. Time to blow up #RodLaverArena. Bitch."
What the tweet lacked in elegance was made up for in passion. The authorities, however, decided it was the wrong sort of passion.
The boy was arrested at the concert, after police allegedly looked at his Twitter profile picture and then spotted him in the 12,000-strong crowd. There might be some who would wonder whether the authorities didn't track him down using the GPS location on the teen's cell phone.
The teen's father, Dave King, told 3AW Radio that it was the arena authorities who demanded the teen be arrested.
King said: "The policeman said to me, 'If it was up to me, I would have booted him in the backside and said go home.'"
He added, somewhat unconvincingly, that his 16-year-old son didn't have "time" to write the whole word "Timebomb."
More Technically Incorrect
- The first arrest filmed on Google Glass?
- Kobe, Lakers, and Dwight Howard: Antisocial media
- Leaning on a window? Hey, here's an ad pumped into your brain
- Samsung's weirdest 'Apple is rotten' ad ever
- Russian spy proposes to Edward Snowden on Twitter
I say "unconvincingly" because the boy's sister told the Herald Sun that her "Grade A student" brother "forgot to put the Time on there."
She accused the stadium security of being overly physical: "They pulled him; they threw him on the ground and locked him up." She said seven members of the security staff sat on her brother during the apprehension.
A spokeswoman for the arena explained to the Herald: "From our point of view, we have systems in place to monitor social media to ensure the safety and security of the venue, of guests and performers."
The teen is being charged with creating a public nuisance and behaving in a threatening manner.
It seems that the tweet came to the authorities' attention specifically because the boy had added the #RodLaverArena hashtag.
Judgment is a difficult skill. It fails us more often than not. In this case, the teen didn't stop to judge how his tweet might be interpreted -- or did he?
Equally, the arena authorities judged that he should be dealt with severely.
I wonder what a judge will say.
How do you read it?
(Credit: Fairfax Media Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)
