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Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released from Prison

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Re: Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released from Prison

#71
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because the only goal of forcing someone to eat something they consider immoral is to punish. Prison is punishment first, rehabilitation second (and it's pretty bad at that considering the percentage of recidivists). Of all the consequences of breaking the law, being forced to eat something you don't like certainly sounds pretty mild.

Just because you don't happen to share their values doesn't make this the same thing as being a picky eater. I don't think you'd be so cavalier if the prison were doing something that goes against your values — for example, if the prisoners were forced to eat human meat.

You're in prison because you disregarded the values that society put in place, surely the society has no obligations to respect your values in prison (although it still goes to some length to do that).

Re: Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released from Prison

#72

Going back to enjoying the off-the records millions made by putting shady ads on thepiratebay.se for 10+ years. I seriously have a very hard time time to understand the widespread sympathy for this gang. If they would have gone without ads, sure.

TIL: HN is no better than reddit. Truth is downvoted here as well.

Can you prove that brokep is a millionaire? If not, how can you call it ”truth”?

Re: Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released from Prison

#73
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Running servers costs money. And IIRC they were actually losing money even with the ads.

> Although Sunde did not provide Ars with specific financial details regarding The Pirate Bay's operational expenses, he did argue that the site's high bandwidth, power, and hardware costs eliminate the potential for profit. The Pirate Bay, he says, may ultimately be operating at a loss. Source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2008/02/pirate-bay-big-re...

I'm generally in favor of TPB, but "may be operating at a loss"? How the hell do you not know if your bottom line is going up or down? This sounds fishy to me.

Re: Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released from Prison

#74
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because you don't happen to share their values doesn't make this the same thing as being a picky eater. I don't think you'd be so cavalier if the prison were doing something that goes against your values — for example, if the prisoners were forced to eat human meat.

You're in prison because you disregarded the values that society put in place, surely the society has no obligations to respect your values in prison (although it still goes to some length to do that).

"You shoplifted an expensive purse, so now we can force you to eat your late mother" is a positively medieval stance to take. Prisoners are still human beings, and forcing them to do horrible things like that is a violation of both the general idea of human rights and several parts of the US Constitution.

Re: Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released from Prison

#75
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Although Sunde did not provide Ars with specific financial details regarding The Pirate Bay's operational expenses, he did argue that the site's high bandwidth, power, and hardware costs eliminate the potential for profit. The Pirate Bay, he says, may ultimately be operating at a loss. Source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2008/02/pirate-bay-big-re...

Not making money doing something illegal doesn't make it any more legal.

Not making money makes it legal in Spain and Hungary for example. US law doesn't rule the world.

Re: Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released from Prison

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really much different than Jews keeping Kosher or Muslims keeping Halal? Prisons are for punishment for crimes that we consider significant enough to jail people, they don't have to dehumanize the prisoners. The cost of 'specialty' food for a few tiny percent of prisoners is a minuscule figure in the total cost of imprisonment, and could easily be accommodated within the wider food offerings. If every meal had…

It's still unelegant and inconsistent. If I claim my diet requires high-quality food determined by me daily, that gets ignored. I understand Kosher for commercial enterprises like airlines: with a minimum of effort, they can satisfy many customers. But governments should have consistent treatment of citizens.

Even if a diet choice is voluntary, if the choice is grounded in religious or ethical reasons then it is an infringement of personal freedom to deny that. Yes, prison itself is an infringement of freedom, but some believe that certain freedoms should remain permanent.

Re: Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released from Prison

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only because YOU consider it mild, probably because you're happy to eat anything. Do you not understand that perhaps other people might feel differently? And are you unable to empathise with that point of view?

There are a lot of things I don't like to eat and I'm pretty sure that I would find eating in prison quite troublesome, regardless of what the food is. It's one of the many prices you pay for breaking the law, but surely losing your freedom and seeing the world move on without you should dominate this unease?

Religion and/or ethics are completely different from distaste.

Re: Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released from Prison

#78
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vegan doesn't mean higher quality. It can mean a large serving of beans and broccoli.

Which makes the whole discussion rather bizarre. So you don't want meat slop on beans and rice, fine, take two scoops of rice and beans instead without the slop. Don't want pancakes and bacon, fine, take an extra pancake instead. If the servers won't cooperate, trade a slice of bacon to your neighbor in exchange for a pancake. I suppose you could intentionally sabotage someone by putting bacon in with the beans, so j…

Someone's been watching too much Hollywood. That's not how food inside works. Your meal is selected for you and given to you in a container, depending on facility. Some prisons have a system similar to what you describe, but inmates' hands are not on the serving equipment and you're only saying "yes"/"no" to things. The facility has strict counts of calories to maintain and putting a serving spoon in the hand of an inmate is a good way to throw a budget away.

In almost all cases in county, the food is already prepared in a plastic container and if you refuse what is offered to you, you do not eat, which means even kosher folks go without for a couple days until the records "catch up."

Re: Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released from Prison

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really much different than Jews keeping Kosher or Muslims keeping Halal? Prisons are for punishment for crimes that we consider significant enough to jail people, they don't have to dehumanize the prisoners. The cost of 'specialty' food for a few tiny percent of prisoners is a minuscule figure in the total cost of imprisonment, and could easily be accommodated within the wider food offerings. If every meal had…

It's still unelegant and inconsistent. If I claim my diet requires high-quality food determined by me daily, that gets ignored. I understand Kosher for commercial enterprises like airlines: with a minimum of effort, they can satisfy many customers. But governments should have consistent treatment of citizens.

> It's still unelegant and inconsistent. If I claim my diet requires high-quality food determined by me daily, that gets ignored.

Wardens are not robots and are capable of applying common sense and judgment. If a prisoner claims that his morals require him not to eat animal products, he's likely to be telling the truth. If he claims his morals require Kobe beef daily, he's probably lying.

Re: Pirate Bay Founder Peter Sunde Released from Prison

#80
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because the only goal of forcing someone to eat something they consider immoral is to punish. Prison is punishment first, rehabilitation second (and it's pretty bad at that considering the percentage of recidivists). Of all the consequences of breaking the law, being forced to eat something you don't like certainly sounds pretty mild.

I think it's significant that you switched the parent commenter's "something they consider immoral" to "something you don't like". It does sound pretty mild if it's something you just don't like for mild aesthetic or taste reasons. That's definitely not the way many people think about some of the things that they don't eat.

How the prisoner perceives this deprivation is irrelevant:

"I need to eat filet mignon once a week"

"No"

"But it's immoral for me not to"

"Oh okay then"

Prisoners are granted privileges based on how society and its laws perceive their demands. Nothing gets automatically granted just because of morality or religious choices by the prisoner.

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