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Comment by StavrosK | Hacker News Reader

Is he charged with anything? I only saw a reference to a "terrorist threat", what kind of fucked up country is one that gets you ten years in jail for joking about committing a crime? Don't you actually have to commit the crime to go to prison, usually?

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Not at all. Thousands of innocent people at sitting in our jails as we speak. Most of them will never be free. But that's beside the point.

He's not in prison, he's in jail, and there's a big difference.

Depending on the circumstances, you could sit in jail your whole life while you await some technical process to complete. You don't even have to be charged with anything.

He's not in prison, he's in jail, and there's a big difference.

What?! Jail and prison are synonyms. There is no real difference.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/prison - A building to which people are legally committed as a punishment for a crime or while awaiting trial.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/jail - A place for the confinement of people accused or convicted of a crime.

Both refer to being detained both before and after conviction.

I think by jail he is referring to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remand_(detention)

The main difference is that you go to prison after a conviction, where s you may sit in jail (nearly) indefinitely without trial or legal counsel.

Jails are also usually less well funded, older, and generally less pleasant (oh yeah) than are prisons.

There's a difference (in the US at least).

A concise summary:

http://sheriff.org/faqs/displayfaq.cfm?id=4f892698-5c5d-40f8...

Yes, you have to commit the crime - but that can mean a lot of things, including planning or threatening some other crime. Conspiracy is still a crime, for example.

Outside the internet, death threats are serious business and usually a crime, regardless of whether you have the actual intent or ability to kill someone.

Likewise there's that tired old example of yelling fire in a crowded theater (though i don't think that applies here)

On or off the internet, an alleged death threat is subject to considerations of actual intent. Following up a comment with "lol/jk" as he ACTUALLY DID pretty much deflates all the billowy claims of his death threat.

But that is conveniently omitted in popular reporting.

Wasn't the "crowded theater" analogy originally conceived to support the passage of the Espionage Act in America? It might be tired and old now, but was never even legit to begin with.

Likewise there's that tired old example of yelling fire in a crowded theater

What most people misunderstand about that is that it is okay to yell fire in a crowded theater, provided that a fire actually exists.

Doesn't really apply here, but I've met plenty of people who interpret it literally as "Don't yell fire under any circumstances at all."

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