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Category: Odd + Funny Author : Steven Hodson Posted: April 24, 2009
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A death threat even on Twitter will get you arrested


threat_tweats

It was inevitable that even the looney tunes would discover and stake out their corner of Twitter. Case in point is the recent craziness of one Oklahoma man who said on Twitter that he was going to turn April 15th (tax day in the US) into a start of a war with the government. It turns out that the F.B.I. takes this kind of talk seriously, even on Twitter, and arrested (.pdf) Daniel Knight Hayden, 52, on that fateful day.

Hayden, whose MySpace page is full of right wing anti-government ramblings, through his Twitter persona (@CitizebQuasar) started his diatribe on the 11th of April with a challenge to the cops to come and get him.

"START THE KILLING NOW! I am willing to be the FIRST DEATH!," read a tweet at 8:01 PM that day. "After I am killed on the Capitol Steps, like a REAL man, the rest of you will REMEMBER ME!!!," he added five minutes later. Then: "Send the cops around. I will cut their heads off the heads and throw the[m] on the State Capitol steps."

Source: Threat Level

Hayden was arraigned on the 16th and released into a halfway house.

[screen capture of Twitter stream via Threat Level]











Comments


3 Archived Responses to “ A death threat even on Twitter will get you arrested ”

  1. John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)
    Apr 24, 2009

    Before something like this happens, every social media company needs to have a policy that dictates the circumstances in which they will, or will not, release information about one of their subscribers. I don't know if the authorities required Twitter to provide any such information, or if Twitter will have to provide (either voluntarily or via subpoena) information at a possible future trial, but the issues regarding release of information aren't cut and dry. Just ask Yahoo's China offices.

  2. Bobby
    Apr 24, 2009

    I have known Dan for many years. I can tell you without question that he was drunk to the point of delirium when he wrote that. He is a life long alcholic, a condition that has ruined his life long before these charges. But, I know him and know that he only wrote those things because he was totally drunk off his ass. He is definately a bit nuts and thinks that everything that has ever happened is a conspiracy. But, in this case, I think it was just a harmless rant induced by too much alcohol.


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