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Threadless offering $1000 for positive ID of Chicagoans in these photos

windycitizen.com

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Re: Threadless offering $1000 for positive ID of Chicagoans in these photos

#21

Post by JoeGermuska »

angelbob wrote: post #16
simon_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sentiment seems a little silly to me - there's no implicit right to anonymity in RL, especially if you go around pissing people off by stealing from them.

No, there's no legal right to anonymity for these things. But he just said "bad thing to start, bad thing to encourage." Here, let's try a thought exercise. "I got hit on by this guy at a bar the other night. Let's make it public that he's gay and obviously scum ('cause he hit on me). I'll give $100 for whoever can tell me his name and where to go to tell his neighbors, $50 for the person who told them, and $25 for e…

The value of your thought exercise is that it would flush out bigots.

They aren't asking for vigilante justice. They're asking for identification.

Re: Threadless offering $1000 for positive ID of Chicagoans in these photos

#22

Post by scottvdp »

icey wrote: post #20
scottvdp wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry dudes, we were told by the police that we cannot release any information as to _why_ we want to track these guys down. They said that in situations in the past, people have been sued for defamation. I really really really wish I could tell you what is going on. For now, you will have to rely on the internet rumormill: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1008900

Couldn't you just say "hey, the police would like to talk to these persons of interest, do you know who they are"? Or something of that nature? I'm all for trying to find out who the people are if you need to find out, but putting a dollar figure on it just rubs me the wrong way. Good luck though, I hope you guys find your men.

Yes, we could have. However time is of the essence here, and we took all of the recommendations you see directly from the Chicago Police Department. They recommended a direct cash incentive would be the quickest and easiest way to find both of these guys.

Re: Threadless offering $1000 for positive ID of Chicagoans in these photos

#23

Post by jellicle »

kordless wrote: post #14
simon_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sentiment seems a little silly to me - there's no implicit right to anonymity in RL, especially if you go around pissing people off by stealing from them.

> no implicit right to anonymity Check the privacy laws of the United States - they clearly do protect our right to anonymity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_laws_of_the_United_Stat... In this case I see both violations of False Light and Appropriation being possible, if these guys didn't do anything, and didn't agree to be involved in this stunt. Personally I like the idea of vigilantism, but these things are…

You know that that Wikipedia article doesn't even have the word "anonymity" in it, right?

There's no general privacy law in the U.S. There's some minor right to write anonymously, extrapolated from the First Amendment, but absolutely no right to be anonymous in general, and in fact the First Amendment goes the other way: Threadless has the right to publish those photos and to make any truthful statements about them whatsoever. In many cases Threadless can even make untruthful statements about the photos and still be perfectly legal.

Re: Threadless offering $1000 for positive ID of Chicagoans in these photos

#24

Post by anthonyb »

icey wrote: post #5

This whole idea is creepy as hell - someone from threadless just says it's "serious" and refuses to give any details as to who these people are or why they want to suddenly play net-nanny. In the meantime, here's a handful of cash for whoever decides to play big brother. It's a bad thing to start, and a bad thing to encourage.

(Slightly) more info here:

http://chicago.everyblock.com/announcements/by-date/2009/12/...

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