111–120 of 172 posts
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You can either hand me your wallet, or I shoot you in the face with this gun. This happens every single day for all types of people in the US. Man, mugging and extortion sounds so much better now that I realize how often it happens. Thanks, res0nat0r!
I'm not sure how 6 months of jail time for repeatedly breaking the law is anywhere near "extortion".
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He refused to surrender, so it's fair to go nuclear?
He could have either taken 6 months and the charge, or the maximum sentence. Note: This happens every single day for all types of crimes all around the US.
Though I'd like to see Oritz fired, and think she's deserving of it, the effort to get her fired is blinding us to a bigger problem and a proper solution. The system was broken long before Oritz and Swartz, but it wasn't until it affected someone we like that we noticed. But we're in a bubble, and the vast majority of Americans do not care who Aaron Swartz is, will not be affected by this tragedy like we were, and in…
He wasn't going to get 30 years. See the other top HN post right now about he could have plea-bargained for 6 months.
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I'm not referring to her losing her job. I'm referring to the threats of vigilante justice that seem to be going around, as mentioned by the linked article.
Vigilante justice is what happens when actual justice is not available. If you don't like vigilante justice, ensure actual justice.
When you’re upset with someone, all you want to do is change the way they’re acting. But you can’t control what’s inside a person’s head. Yelling at them isn’t going to make them come around, it’s just going to make them more defiant, like the GM workers who keyed the cars they made.
No, you can’t force other people to change. You can, however, change just about everything else. And usually, that’s enough. -- http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/nummi
You want to fix how she behaves. Instead, change everything else. Change the system she operated in. There's a way to do that without violence, either physical or "cyber".
I'm not sure what this petition is trying to accomplish. Do you think, should the President fire Ms Ortiz, she would be replaced by someone completely different? Her actions are a reflection of the entire justice system; the person who replaces her will continue with the same bullying, "String 'em up in Town Square"-style tactics as she did. Everything will continue as it has been, but now the affluent, Bay-area 20-s…
The ones among us who signed the petition want to make AG Ortiz "an example" by asking for her head in a platter, so prosecutors think twice before using these tactics.
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I think this is describing exactly why I feel like a grumpy cynical jerk about this right now. The internet loves it causes. It loves to pontificate on forums and sign petitions to change things, just as long as these changes don't involve anything more than clicking buttons and typing things from laptops while sitting on the couch. I'd rather people calmly review the facts about the people and things involved with t…
I think people pretty well understand the facts here. We have understood them for a long time. Current law makes everyone a criminal. Prosecutors threaten young people with excessive sentences to coerce them into plea bargains. None of this is new information. What we have lacked before is the will to do what is necessary to fix it. And if you have an idea how to do that, let's hear it. Because "heads will roll" is n…
Though I'd like to see Oritz fired, and think she's deserving of it, the effort to get her fired is blinding us to a bigger problem and a proper solution. The system was broken long before Oritz and Swartz, but it wasn't until it affected someone we like that we noticed. But we're in a bubble, and the vast majority of Americans do not care who Aaron Swartz is, will not be affected by this tragedy like we were, and in…
Even though getting officials fired is not your preferred method to help jumpstart reform there are no reasons for you to discourage others of doing so. If you think you have a better axis of attack on this problem, I beg you, please lead an effort on that axis. If we waited for a consensus on the best manner to proceed before doing anything, noting would ever get done. To make a comparison relevant to this community…
Exactly. Bottom-up action is strongest when supported by a diversity of tactics. Alice may not like Bob's methodology, and Bob may not like Alice's, but when they expend their energy discouraging each other from doing something they believe in, neither have a shot at advancing their shared cause. Gatekeepers are the undeclared allies of power.
Put your energy into action you believe in, and let the chips fall where they may.
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Vigilante justice is what happens when actual justice is not available. If you don't like vigilante justice, ensure actual justice.
In a sense, that's exactly what Aaron was going for when he was attempting to download JSTORs articles in order to "liberate" them. Imagine if he had made open information one of the "Campaigns" at Demand Progress instead of getting caught up with the law? Even now, what was supposed to be the one issue that motivated Aaron to break the law isn't even listed as one of the Campaigns at Demand Progress: http://blog.dem…
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You can either hand me your wallet, or I shoot you in the face with this gun. This happens every single day for all types of people in the US. Man, mugging and extortion sounds so much better now that I realize how often it happens. Thanks, res0nat0r!
I'm not sure how 6 months of jail time for repeatedly breaking the law is anywhere near "extortion".
Why is there not this type of outpouring of rage and internet hate the last few days for someone who is seriously being railroaded: Bradley Manning. This is a person who has been locked up into solitary for months now and is being treated very inhumanely. Is it because he hasn't written any Python libraries and isn't visible in Silicon Valley?
Bradly Manning has received plenty of attention in other circles. This site usually only deals with politics when it directly relates to tech.