[empath75]

Online is real life and there’s not a significant difference between someone making death threats online or over the phone or through the mail and I wish law enforcement would take it more seriously and start jailing people and not just laughing it off.

It’ll only take throwing a few obnoxious kids into big boy prison for making terroristic threats before the ‘pranksters’ stop doing it and we’re left with the real crazies.

[Anderkent]

> Online is real life and there’s not a significant difference between someone making death threats online or over the phone or through the mail

There is a very significant difference - someone who knows your address or phone number likely knows where you live. (perhaps less so with mobile phones compared to historically with stationary phones). And they're more likely to be in the geographical area and capable of acting on the threat.

Whereas 99% of the time someone sends a 'threat' online they do not know you, and are responding to a video / post that you made. Not that it becomes excusable, but it does make the threat much less serious.

[stephengillie]

It's important to remind people that hateful speech is not protected by the First Amendment in America.

[weberc2]

The first amendment absolutely protects hateful speech. It doesn't protect threats.