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Idaho law criminalizes secretly filming on farms

america.aljazeera.com

31–40 of 138 posts

Re: Idaho law criminalizes secretly filming on farms

#31
post #2

Makes sense. A farm is private property. You don't have the right to come into my house or my place of work and film me. (Even if you suspect I'm doing something wrong) Also makes sense that falsifying a resume in order to do so would be illegal.

My hypothetical rape dungeon is private property, too. I would expect my right to privacy is trumped by the general public's right to not have horrifying crimes committed.

If you run an operation like this and someone blows a whistle, they should be legally protected, not prosecuted.

Re: Idaho law criminalizes secretly filming on farms

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that doesn't make sense. If it is considered wrong/unethical to film on private property in Idaho - why would they legislate for a specific industry? Shouldn't filming video on private property be illegal all across the board in Idaho if the problem is about basic rights?

Its clearly a knee-jerk reaction to unfortunate events. But consider: Farms cannot be reasonably secured. Can't prove 'breaking and entering' when all you have to do is park and walk, maybe cross a fence. So they would need some special rules to make them private space at all.

Since we are on the topic of pure speculation about the intention of this law, let's present another theory: it is in the interest of the farming industry to stop animal rights activists from documenting the illegal practices that are sometimes involved in producing cheap meat since it would be detrimental to their business if they were widely known, and they have been lobbying to get this bill to pass not because of ideological privacy concerns, which are already protected by other means.

From your description, it seems like there is no "breaking and entering" to prove. Trespassing, falsified resumés etc., but there are already laws for that, and the laws themselves don't make it easier or harder to trespass.

Re: Idaho law criminalizes secretly filming on farms

#33
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't be obtuse or sensationalize this. You know very well that's not what's being referred to here.

Well, I find it hard to see the difference between "abnormal" sexual abuse and "regular" sexual abuse that is an inherent part of the dairy industry, whether you like it or not.

Are you able to tell the difference between medicine and abuse when it comes to something like endoscopy? Hint: one of them is based around inflicting pain, and the other tries to inflict none.

Edit: Also when you call it 'rape' and 'sexual' I wonder how you would feel about impregnation that completely bypassed genitalia and went though an incision in the abdomen. Assume getting a c-section too if you like.

Re: Idaho law criminalizes secretly filming on farms

#34

How does preventing filming helps? The cows don't understand a violation of their privacy, but I'm reasonably sure they understand being abused.

The cows aren't the target here: the people who run the farms and don't want their dirty laundry aired are. It's a sad situation.

Re: Idaho law criminalizes secretly filming on farms

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its clearly a knee-jerk reaction to unfortunate events. But consider: Farms cannot be reasonably secured. Can't prove 'breaking and entering' when all you have to do is park and walk, maybe cross a fence. So they would need some special rules to make them private space at all.

Since we are on the topic of pure speculation about the intention of this law, let's present another theory: it is in the interest of the farming industry to stop animal rights activists from documenting the illegal practices that are sometimes involved in producing cheap meat since it would be detrimental to their business if they were widely known, and they have been lobbying to get this bill to pass not because of…

Agreed;those are the unfortunate events I referred to. Uglyness all around.

And that there is no 'breaking and entering' was actually my point. Farms are not houses; yet still private.

Re: Idaho law criminalizes secretly filming on farms

#36
post #9

Why do we need legislation like this? TFA says "[jail and a fine] for people who secretly enter ... " Do they not already have trespassing laws?

I may be wrong but I think in some places trespassing is only prosecuted if you also commit another crime while doing so.

Re: Idaho law criminalizes secretly filming on farms

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The man seen fondling a cow’s vagina in the newly released video eventually spent 102 days in jail." http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-cow-abuse-v...

Annoyingly, that description is too vague to tell if it's actual abuse or just 'look at me touch a taboo spot'. And I'd rather not watch the video to find out. The fact that he went to jail doesn't clarify, because he did many other things such as jumping on a cow for an extended period.

If you don't watch the video yourself, how can you trust a description to be accurate, and then form your own opinion on whether such acts (and undercover filming of such acts) should be illegal? I watched it, my own take is that it's nothing special in terms of disturbing material. The other video from PETA linked on this page shows more perverse acts but is also not very disturbing overall. The video on meat.org is probably the worst in this particular genre I've seen.

Re: Idaho law criminalizes secretly filming on farms

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about your house. This law concerns farms only.

A farm is Somebody's house. I live on one for instance. While we don't torture animals, keep your cameras out of my space anyway thank you.

> A farm is Somebody's house.

and a food-production facility too? subject to USDA inspections and a whole set of regulations, being that what comes out of it has direct impact on public health?

Certainly there should be provisions to protect the privacy of the people living there, as there should be ways to ensure that also the public good is served and protected.

Re: Idaho law criminalizes secretly filming on farms

#39
I think the issue isn't family farms, most small farmers take their job seriously. The issue is big conglomerate farms that don't want their industrial processes to be aired and criticized, much less have people discover practices that produce tainted and diseased products that might kill people. It's easier to control the fallout when things go bad when there are no pictures, such as in lawsuits.

Re: Idaho law criminalizes secretly filming on farms

#40
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't be obtuse or sensationalize this. You know very well that's not what's being referred to here.

Well, I find it hard to see the difference between "abnormal" sexual abuse and "regular" sexual abuse that is an inherent part of the dairy industry, whether you like it or not.

Are you saying a cow in heat does not imply consent? If so, what standard should we hold bulls to when they "immorally" act on that signal? Or are you suggesting that rape is okay, so long as it does not involve humans?
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