Sunday, April 26, 2009
Twitter claims another victim
The BBC report that an attempt by a Shropshire magistrate to bring some transparency and accountability to his role has led to his resignation.
IT consultant Steve Molyneux, from Telford, Shropshire, posted messages on Twitter about cases at the town's magistrates' court. He said everything he reported had already been said in open court and he had done nothing illegal. However, following a complaint from an individual within the court system, Mr. Molyneux resigned:
He later told BBC Radio Five Live that he accepted he had to be "careful of the language" he used, but did not accept he should not use the technology.
In fact, he argued, his feed was providing people with a service.
"I use it to communicate with the public. The people who read the Twitter read the same thing in the newspaper that evening.
"The fact [is] I used a piece of technology that allowed others [to know about the case outcome] that may not have read the local newspaper but were just as interested. I saw no harm in it."
He said he believed the judicial system needed to embrace technology to ensure transparency so that the public could see "justice has been done".
And why not?
IT consultant Steve Molyneux, from Telford, Shropshire, posted messages on Twitter about cases at the town's magistrates' court. He said everything he reported had already been said in open court and he had done nothing illegal. However, following a complaint from an individual within the court system, Mr. Molyneux resigned:
He later told BBC Radio Five Live that he accepted he had to be "careful of the language" he used, but did not accept he should not use the technology.
In fact, he argued, his feed was providing people with a service.
"I use it to communicate with the public. The people who read the Twitter read the same thing in the newspaper that evening.
"The fact [is] I used a piece of technology that allowed others [to know about the case outcome] that may not have read the local newspaper but were just as interested. I saw no harm in it."
He said he believed the judicial system needed to embrace technology to ensure transparency so that the public could see "justice has been done".
And why not?
Comments:
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A travesty in my view. From what I read on the front of The Shropshire Star last night his tweets were quite tame. He resigned because somebody another JP complained. A very sad turn of events.
Twitter has been a revelation to me since I started using it. Tried it to see what the fuss is about but I am now seriously addicted. Whilst the comments that go on should be done with care quality twitter uses don't take them selves too seriously and engage in conversation with their followers.
So far I have found some very interesting people on twitter and made some friendships in quite a short space of time. Whoever complained needs to get a grip or a life.
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Twitter has been a revelation to me since I started using it. Tried it to see what the fuss is about but I am now seriously addicted. Whilst the comments that go on should be done with care quality twitter uses don't take them selves too seriously and engage in conversation with their followers.
So far I have found some very interesting people on twitter and made some friendships in quite a short space of time. Whoever complained needs to get a grip or a life.
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