<p>One man thought he was just bantering with his pals when he joked about blowing an airport sky-high. Another was reacting to a radio phone-in when he mused about stoning a journalist to death.<br /><br />Because they made their throwaway comments on Twitter, both are in legal trouble.<br />Their cases have outraged civil libertarians and inflamed the debate about the limits of free speech in a Web 2.0 world. The Internet increasingly makes private jokes, tastes and opinions available for public consumption, blurring the line between public and private in a way that has left the law struggling to keep up.<br /><br />"I think people don't have any idea of the potential legal ramifications of things they post on the Internet," said Gregor Pryor, a digital media lawyer at Reed Smith in London. "Anything you post on Twitter can come back and haunt you."<br /><br />Paul Chambers found that out with a vengeance. The 27-year-old trainee accountant was convicted and fined after tweeting in January that he'd blow up Robin Hood Airport in northern England if his flight was delayed.<br /><br />Chambers - who lost his job and faces several thousand pounds (dollars) in legal costs - said yesterday that he has instructed his lawyers to take his case to the High Court, setting the stage for a major test of free speech online."Probably to the detriment of my mental well-being, I am appealing the decision as best I can," Chambers tweeted yesterday.</p>
<p>One man thought he was just bantering with his pals when he joked about blowing an airport sky-high. Another was reacting to a radio phone-in when he mused about stoning a journalist to death.<br /><br />Because they made their throwaway comments on Twitter, both are in legal trouble.<br />Their cases have outraged civil libertarians and inflamed the debate about the limits of free speech in a Web 2.0 world. The Internet increasingly makes private jokes, tastes and opinions available for public consumption, blurring the line between public and private in a way that has left the law struggling to keep up.<br /><br />"I think people don't have any idea of the potential legal ramifications of things they post on the Internet," said Gregor Pryor, a digital media lawyer at Reed Smith in London. "Anything you post on Twitter can come back and haunt you."<br /><br />Paul Chambers found that out with a vengeance. The 27-year-old trainee accountant was convicted and fined after tweeting in January that he'd blow up Robin Hood Airport in northern England if his flight was delayed.<br /><br />Chambers - who lost his job and faces several thousand pounds (dollars) in legal costs - said yesterday that he has instructed his lawyers to take his case to the High Court, setting the stage for a major test of free speech online."Probably to the detriment of my mental well-being, I am appealing the decision as best I can," Chambers tweeted yesterday.</p>