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Farmer arrested for speaking too long at datacenter town hall vows to fight

404media.co

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Re: Farmer arrested for speaking too long at datacenter town hall vows to fight

#11

Post by solid_fuel »

wat10000 wrote: post #3

He was not arrested for speaking too long. He was arrested for trespassing after being asked to leave. This occurred after speaking too long, but the speaking too long is not the reason for the arrest.

Sure man. Nothing says "hacker ethos" like arresting a citizen for going 3 seconds over their allotted free speech time.

There are so many bootlickers here on HN these days. A sign of the times, I suppose.

But of course, what else can we expect? This is the natural consequence of putting ethics and morality after money. Money always wins. And once you start seeing the world like that, through the lens of "success makes right", you have to bend your view of reality to make it square. And then you wind up here, defending actions like this.

Re: Farmer arrested for speaking too long at datacenter town hall vows to fight

#12

Post by RIMR »

heyitsmedotjayb wrote: post #2

[flagged]

This is how authoritarians speak. Rules only matter when they make sense. An authoritarian never cares about that, and insists on a strict interpretation of the rules, well beyond reason.

A 3-minute limit is sensible. Hauling someone off to jail because they spoke for a few seconds too long is tyrannical.

You should want better out of the society you live in. Even if you disagree with this farmer, ask yourself if he would have seen the same consequences if he went over the limit speaking in support of this Datacenter (spoiler: of course he wouldn't have).

Do you really want to live in a world where people are creatively charged with trespassing, not because of actual malicious action, but because they said something that the powers that be didn't like?

Re: Farmer arrested for speaking too long at datacenter town hall vows to fight

#14

Post by IncreasePosts »

RIMR wrote: post #10
wat10000 wrote: post #3

He was not arrested for speaking too long. He was arrested for trespassing after being asked to leave. This occurred after speaking too long, but the speaking too long is not the reason for the arrest.

Look, the article is right there, and what it says doesn't match what you're saying. Sure, they arrested him for "trespassing", but their definition of trespassing was going over his allotted time by a matter of seconds. They did not ask him to leave, and he refused. They counted down the seconds he had the floor, and ordered his arrest the moment he went over the allotted time. I don't know if you've ever been to a…

You're taking the article as gospel. Is there any video for the lead up to the arrest?

There was a reddit post with this video, and the poster claimed that he refused to leave the podium after his time was up. Not saying that is true, but it sounds different than "spoke a few seconds too long"

https://www.reddit.com/r/ObscurePatentDangers/comments/1shsu...

Re: Farmer arrested for speaking too long at datacenter town hall vows to fight

#15

Post by RIMR »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #14
RIMR wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look, the article is right there, and what it says doesn't match what you're saying. Sure, they arrested him for "trespassing", but their definition of trespassing was going over his allotted time by a matter of seconds. They did not ask him to leave, and he refused. They counted down the seconds he had the floor, and ordered his arrest the moment he went over the allotted time. I don't know if you've ever been to a…

You're taking the article as gospel. Is there any video for the lead up to the arrest? There was a reddit post with this video, and the poster claimed that he refused to leave the podium after his time was up. Not saying that is true, but it sounds different than "spoke a few seconds too long" https://www.reddit.com/r/ObscurePatentDangers/comments/1shsu...

Even if that's the case, why not just cut the mic and have security escort him away? Why jump straight to sending the cops to arrest and jail him?

It's abundantly clear that these things happen not because people were so disruptive that it was necessary. It is that they are saying things the government doesn't like, so they use the only tool they have as strictly as they are allowed to in an attempt to discourage people from speaking out in the first place.

At least this is triggering the Streisand Effect, and now this farmer is getting interviews on the news, not only about the Datacenter, but how the local government treats those who speak out against it.

Re: Farmer arrested for speaking too long at datacenter town hall vows to fight

#16

Post by fakedang »

sheikhnbake wrote: post #5

> When he went a few seconds over his allotted 3 minute time limit, the city ordered Blanchard arrested and transported to the county jail. The city charged Blanchard with trespassing

Land of the Free, First Amendment, Right to Free Speech, Democracy, Community Involvement, etc. etc. etc.

Re: Farmer arrested for speaking too long at datacenter town hall vows to fight

#17

Post by sheikhnbake »

fakedang wrote: post #16
sheikhnbake wrote: post #5

> When he went a few seconds over his allotted 3 minute time limit, the city ordered Blanchard arrested and transported to the county jail. The city charged Blanchard with trespassing

Land of the Free, First Amendment, Right to Free Speech, Democracy, Community Involvement, etc. etc. etc.

*for those that can afford it

Re: Farmer arrested for speaking too long at datacenter town hall vows to fight

#18

Post by wrs »

This is basically weak people in authority overreacting from fear and resentment. Same as when the principal expels a student for saying something rude at assembly, or when a bank sues someone for sending in a vulnerability report about their website.

Re: Farmer arrested for speaking too long at datacenter town hall vows to fight

#20

Post by johnnyanmac »

sheikhnbake wrote: post #5

> When he went a few seconds over his allotted 3 minute time limit, the city ordered Blanchard arrested and transported to the county jail. The city charged Blanchard with trespassing

Oklahoma, huh? Wish I could be surprised.

Even then, hard to tell if this will hold up in court. Town halls should be recorded ("should") and there's inevitable up and downtime for speakers. This is why police have a radar tolerance of 5 mph before trying to write a speeding ticket.

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