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A Twitter user insulted a German politician, then police raided his house

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Re: A Twitter user insulted a German politician, then police raided his house

#151
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They exist but primarily protect private people. If the court determines that you are a “public figure” (I forget the legal term; IANAL) — such as CEOs of publicly traded companies, or politicians, etc. — then the bar for winning a case for defamation goes up significantly. Furthermore speech that is essentially opinion or critique is a defense against defamation that can cause the case to be dismissed before trial.…

People get sentenced for insulting police all the time. What are you talking about?

Source please?

Re: A Twitter user insulted a German politician, then police raided his house

#152
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They exist but primarily protect private people. If the court determines that you are a “public figure” (I forget the legal term; IANAL) — such as CEOs of publicly traded companies, or politicians, etc. — then the bar for winning a case for defamation goes up significantly. Furthermore speech that is essentially opinion or critique is a defense against defamation that can cause the case to be dismissed before trial.…

People get sentenced for insulting police all the time. What are you talking about?

Can you give an example? I’ve never heard of such a case. You might be thinking of scenarios where people are arrested and prosecuted for resisting arrest, making threats against police officer, or crimes of that nature.

There will be limits of what you can say to police before you also run afoul of laws against public nuisance. Just as you would not want a random person to shout epithets and slurs at you and follow you down the sidewalk talking trash at you, which may be a misdemeanor crime in some jurisdictions (like disturbing the peace), the same is likely true for police if you were to interact with them in that way.

I cannot imagine anyone being prosecuted for publishing criticism about the performance/behavior of individual officers during a police encounter after the fact, or publishing criticism of the police department in their city generally.

While interacting with police, if you are being detained, beyond providing any information you are required to provide by law, which differs by state and circumstance (such as if driving a motor vehicle) - know your rights and obligations - it is wise to say “I invoke my fifth amendment right to remain silent” in response to any questions; as a suspect there are only downsides to having a conversation with police as anything you say can be used against you in court. During an interaction with police is not a wise time for criticism of police in general, the department in particular, or the specific officers at the scene.

Re: A Twitter user insulted a German politician, then police raided his house

#153

Reading things like these in other (even developed, Western) nations: - UK surveillance state powers, anti-porn laws - Australian laws to detain you, break encryption - This German incident I sure am glad to live in a country where freedoms are explicitly guaranteed by a constitutional decree.

America has had its overreaches in recent history - the Florida covid whistle-blower and so forth. I have to think that officials are hesitant to engage in many of the petty tyranny we see in other western countries, however, at a rate proportional to the degree to which their constituents are armed. If a police raid has a non trivial chance of turning into a shootout, it's a tool frequently withheld, and probably ne…

[deleted]

Re: A Twitter user insulted a German politician, then police raided his house

#154

And as an American, Germans/Australians/etc. will still insist they're more free than me because of something arbitrary like free healthcare. I don't think there's anywhere I'd feel particularly more "free" all things considered aside from maybe Mars.

Until you get stopped in Nevada and your possessions are ceased by the cops. Or until you get swatted. Or you piss Elon Musk off and he sends cops after you.

Re: A Twitter user insulted a German politician, then police raided his house

#155
post #26

As a German I have to emphasize that this has no support at all in Germany. The uproar was huge today and its seen as a misuse of power by the politician. Especially as he is not acting as a politician but as representative of the public office of interior. The search warrant needs to be issued by a judge and I'm sure there will be formal investigations how this happened. I would not be surprised if he will be forced…

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Re: A Twitter user insulted a German politician, then police raided his house

#156
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it had been, but it's not anymore. He moved.

If he's willing to call it his house, we should be too. > "My house was searched at 6:00 this morning. Six officers in the apartment," wrote the suspect

He doesn't, that's just an editorialized translation[1], the straight Google translation doesn't have the possessive pronoun: "There was a house search at 6:00 this morning. 6 officers in the apartment."

But we can refer to it as his strawberry cake for all I care, as long as it's understood that he doesn't actually live there anymore[2]. This wasn't as widely reported as the original story, and along with the fact that the guy had already talked to the authorities and admitted to the foul deed, I found it made the whole thing even more outrageous.

[1] this is the original tweet https://nitter.net/pauli_zoo/status/1435494328894431233#m

[2] https://www.heise.de/news/Du-bist-so-1-Pimmel-Hamburgs-Innen...

Re: A Twitter user insulted a German politician, then police raided his house

#157
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like driving while poor. It’s very very common for someone to get a fine that they can not pay, then lose their drivers license for failure to pay. Then get stopped and have to deal with driving without a license, which can include jail time. Source: good friend was a public defender.

Other countries don’t arrest people who drive without a license? I’ll need to see worldwide numbers, American numbers, and an exemplar list of laws before I accept such a broad conclusion.

I can't speak for other countries, but here in the UK courts can be resistant to charges snowballing like this against a defendant as it's a recognised problem. Fines can be delayed, split into instalments, reduced or put pending against credit history for up to 5 years - although if they find you are able to pay but unwilling they get tough fast. DWL can result in longer suspension of a license, fines, or community service.

It does help that traveling by public transport here is a lot less likely to be a problem, to be fair.

Re: A Twitter user insulted a German politician, then police raided his house

#159

Reading things like these in other (even developed, Western) nations: - UK surveillance state powers, anti-porn laws - Australian laws to detain you, break encryption - This German incident I sure am glad to live in a country where freedoms are explicitly guaranteed by a constitutional decree.

Please don't take HN threads into nationalistic flamewar. Last thing we need here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: A Twitter user insulted a German politician, then police raided his house

#160

Reading things like these in other (even developed, Western) nations: - UK surveillance state powers, anti-porn laws - Australian laws to detain you, break encryption - This German incident I sure am glad to live in a country where freedoms are explicitly guaranteed by a constitutional decree.

Freedom to not have any vacations for years, freedom to not get medical aid, freedom to get fired over Twitter on a whim, freedom to get shot by the police, freedom to be subject to government surveillance, freedom to have a flawed democracy, freedom to have your children shot in school by deranged classmates... Freedom doesn't necessarily mean "better".

Please don't take HN threads further into nationalistic flamewar, and please don't post in the flamewar style generally.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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