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You commit three felonies a day

kottke.org

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Re: You commit three felonies a day

#11

Post by ck2 »

danso wrote: post #7
ck2 wrote: post #5

And the felony history never goes away now. Just think, a child who gets their first smartphone today, will have their entire phone history recorded until death. Their geolocation saved. Their email saved. All their financial transactions. All their friends and family will be known. Every intercontact in society. Where they shop, eat, etc. Who they date. I mean why would the NSA ever delete it? They can just get taxp…

I've become more bearish about the idea of electronic medical records. The ability for a bureaucracy to keep those safe seems far, far off in the future, no matter what technology advances come through. And guns: well, if you're pro-gun-control, this mindset (justified or not) should help you understand why the NRA is so passionately against gun registration of any kind. In terms of the NSA: I don't think they care m…

Sorry I should have said "potential felony history never goes away".

Basically:

we want to talk to this person about their friend, let's see what we can bring them in for and threaten them with so they talk...

Re: You commit three felonies a day

#12

Post by jacquesm »

Uchikoma wrote: post #9

From Atlas Shrugged: “Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. [...] There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.”

It may help to remember here that Ayn Rand wrote that stuff as an ex-citizen of a country with a communist regime that employed exactly those tactics against their citizens, I highly doubt that she intended or foresaw those words to be used against the rulers of the country that she chose to live in.

Re: You commit three felonies a day

#13

Post by meerita »

A state that monitors without limits is dangerous for several reasons. Mainly because those who watch may or may not alter its ethics, for example, for personal gain. Someone with access to data can fuck another. A typical example would be a company, which is surveilled and they know all their movements, communications, contracts and any possible information that a government can sell to competitors or people who pay for this information.

Amen to these problems will also be those, as noted in this article, the issue of being "possible guilty" all the time is just plainly sick.

Re: You commit three felonies a day

#14

Post by trustfundbaby »

Anyone who's had their company try to get rid of them is keenly aware of this on a micro scale.

Its amazing how many weird rules and regulations you can suddenly find yourself afoul of once somebody high up enough has it in for you ... apparently this is true on a macro level (country/government) too.

Re: You commit three felonies a day

#15

Post by ubernostrum »

Uchikoma wrote: post #9

From Atlas Shrugged: “Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. [...] There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.”

Since posting this quote is apparently now a thing that happens in practically every HN thread, I will take the opportunity to repost this reply:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5708196

Re: You commit three felonies a day

#18

Post by Tloewald »

einhverfr wrote: post #8
danso wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've become more bearish about the idea of electronic medical records. The ability for a bureaucracy to keep those safe seems far, far off in the future, no matter what technology advances come through. And guns: well, if you're pro-gun-control, this mindset (justified or not) should help you understand why the NRA is so passionately against gun registration of any kind. In terms of the NSA: I don't think they care m…

We should all today make a pact to name our children "Spartacus" with no last name.

And give them burner phones.

Re: You commit three felonies a day

#19

Post by reneherse »

jacquesm wrote: post #12
Uchikoma wrote: post #9

From Atlas Shrugged: “Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. [...] There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.”

It may help to remember here that Ayn Rand wrote that stuff as an ex-citizen of a country with a communist regime that employed exactly those tactics against their citizens, I highly doubt that she intended or foresaw those words to be used against the rulers of the country that she chose to live in.

But then, she also wrote Atlas Shrugged as a kind of warning, with the hope that we would not become the kind of regime she fled. The OP is exactly apropos.

Re: You commit three felonies a day

#20

Post by Kiro »

einhverfr wrote: post #4
molf wrote: post #2

So what are those three felonies?

Silverglate talks about a number of cases, some of which have been addressed either before the book was written or after, but the overall problem is still out there. For example, see the honest services fraud charges against Jeff Skilling (of Enron fame), on the idea that anything dishonest any corporate executive might do would be depriving the corporation of honest services. Now the Supreme Court reversed Skilling'…

No, I want to know what felonies I commit.
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