The online world is becoming steadily more aggressive and hostile. As this is likely to be the future for human communication it is critical that we reclaim the space for all people to express their ideas and opinions. We cannot allow it to be overtaken by Tweeters singling people out for their sex or race or sexuality, etc, or threatening to drown people or gang rape them or encouraging people to beat them up.

This is a censorship issue for sure, but as Ally Fogg rightly pointed out, not the one that people seem to think it is.

If you look at the 'social disapproval' from the 'twitter community', it includes abuse at least as bad as that which provoked it, including death threats, homophobic insults and threats of violence. One presumes that none of these people will be arrested. Something is wrong with the idea that 'social disapproval' on twitter is automatically a good thing. Or indeed that it is effective. You forgot to mention that the 'gushing apology' was followed within minutes with a further torrent of abuse.

But I think you also misjudge the situation on a couple of counts:
If the person had been in Plymouth (which he wasn't), that could well have been concerning for Daley, who happens to live there.

For what was tweeted to Tom Daley, the person received a warning for harrassment. Meaning that he had not yet committed an arrestable offence in this regard. ie (and fairly crucially), he was NOT arrested for what he tweeted to Tom Daley. The person has been bailed, however, pending further inquiries regarding his tweets to other people, including one non-famous person in particular , who has been abused and threatened on twitter and on youtube by this person for some time.

The only relevance of Tom Daley in all this is that he brought the person's twitterfeed to wider attention, prompting large numbers of people to report him to the police. (and possibly prompting the police to take the matter seriously). But ultimately, this is not a freedom of speech issue. It's a question of the laws of the land applying to Twitter just as they apply elsewhere. If you abuse, harrass or threaten someone, to the point of committing an offence, you will be arrested. Like that lady on the bus. Or the train. Considering how much bullying is carried out on social media and the devastating psychological effect that this can have on the victims, it's right and proper that people should be protected from it and perpetrators brought to justice.

its coming to the time when one can be arrested by the thought police for even contemplating an abusive tweet .......surely this is entrapment

Freedom of speech should not allow people to harass and violently threaten people. It was aggressive, malicious and in such a way that Daley could well feel endangered. The police were right to arrest him, I hope a conviction will teach him a lesson.

Thanks Will. That's interesting because most of the talk about defending free speech online (especially in other countries) sees it as precisely the same as free speech offline.

However, if we have different rules for Twitter wouldn't that result in a more liberal approach. Considering Twitter as Pub Talk, not publishing, for example, would allow all sorts of ranting and racism through the net.

Thanks for the comments. Looking at the invective that this chap posted, my own opinion is that his tweets were an outburst, a rant, an aggressive response to being called out on his trolling. I include in this the threat to 'drown' Tom Daley, and the threat to 'ram a knife' down the throat of another user. In which case the social sanction is more appropriate than the legal. However, I can see how others might judge that he crossed the line.

This young man's timeline contains an ongoing and sustained diatribe of racism, offensive language, threats and personal abuse which would certainly cause arrest if carried out in a football ground. Whilst I wouldn't expect charges, at least an arrest may cause a change of behavior. If our only remedy is a shrug of the shoulders it's probably time to leave Twitter to the trolls. This is not a freedom of speech issue. This behavior is simply unacceptable to most.

This young man's timeline contains an ongoing and sustained diatribe of racism, offensive language, threats and personal abuse which would certainly cause arrest if carried out in a football ground. Whilst I wouldn't expect charges, at least an arrest may cause a change of behavior. If our only remedy is a shrug of the shoulders it's probably time to leave Twitter to the trolls. This is not a freedom of speech issue. This behavior is simply unacceptable to most.

As I understood it the guy didn't even write it. He just retweeted it.

If he gets arrested for that then Rick Dewsbury should be tied to a post in the middle of Trafalgar square and burned for his (quickly deleted but still available on the internet) Daily Mail article.

I abolutely agree with you Robert. My heart sank when I heard this item on the news this morning. I do not think the issue should have been given air time by the BBC. As you say Tom Daly dealt with the comment appropriately and adequately. Disapproval from the Twitter community is enough without getting the police involved.

He didn't say Tom 'should be drowned' he said that he was going to find him at the pool and drown him. Most likely the reaction of a teen struggling with aggression issues who has been backed into a corner, but how does anyone know that for sure? Everyone knows where Tom is living and working. Surely threats like this need to at least be checked out?