Yes, well, given the sensitiviity of the subject, I thought it best just to echo the title used in the original article. But I agree this is not your average 'trolling' episode.
Now that a line has been drawn, it'll be interesting to see whether 'netiquette' returns to greater prominence as an issue. I remember in the early days of the Web - when far fewer people were online - users were much more concerned about netiquette, and largely self-policed.
Of course there's a whole minefield here regarding a medical condition that renders a personal unable to judge another's reaction - but I don't know enough about Aspergers, or degrees of Aspergers to get into that. I was more interested in the ripples that might emanate from this event.
ETA: I'm unsure if this story will seem less significant outside of the UK - but we've recently had people imprisoned for their part in encouraging riots via the Internet, and so the legal response to matters of online communication feel very much the 'topic du jour' just now.