Here is a Difficult Case

In Scotland recently, some guy with what sounds like an Iranian name showed a Scottish lass a video clip on his mobile phone. The clip was the horrific scene of an Iraqi hostage being beheaded. It upset the woman terribly and a Scottish court sent the guy to jail for 60 days for a "breach of the peace". The story is here.

Now I have great respect for Scottish law. It generally seems to me more down-to-earth and realistic than English law. But the libertarian in me also asks are we not looking at something akin to a freedom of speech issue here? After all, even sexy nightclub acts have in the past been held to be protected "speech" by some U.S. judges.

And lawyers are asking if a precedent has now been set whereby you could be prosecuted for sending upsetting emails to someone, even if the email was meant as a joke or was in any case not meant maliciously?

I think I come down on the side of the Scottish judge. The law is about drawing lines and I think a line was crossed there. But I agree that future judges might not draw the line so wisely. As I said, it's a difficult one and in an age when making someone feel "uncomfortable" is often treated as an offence on U.S. college campuses, I think there is a real risk of all this going too far. I am afraid that we are all going to have to be more careful about our emails in future.

Update:

British libertarian lawyer Sean Gabb disagrees with me on this one. Do read his comments.