OT: We Are All Now Criminals Under The Law

Randallw · #1 May 17th, 2008, 02:25 AM

I am usually careful signing up for sites. Usually I use my Hotmail account so spam from them doesn't bother me. Sometimes I want to use the site but for some reason or the other I don't care to give too much info about myself. In these rare cases I might sign up as username "not interested" or "forget it". If I do get spam from them, and the likelyhood is higher since I don't particularly trust them, I'll at least know it was them.

I have no interest in community sites like webspace....myspace, whatever, and I'm not the sort to bother with aliases. I just use Randallw. It's who I am and I'm not flippant enough to use wacky usernames.

Azselendor · #2 May 17th, 2008, 02:31 AM

Gas Stations and Oil Companies often behave more like cartels than businesses...

Ed Kolis · #3 May 17th, 2008, 04:31 PM

Oh, goody, now we can do whatever we want, because if we're already criminals, what more do we have to lose?

Mindi · #4 May 17th, 2008, 06:28 PM

I can understand the slippery slope theory, but I really think it's because of the circumstances surrounding what this woman did to a 13 year old girl, who eventually hung herself because of it, is the only reason they are going after her. This is one area where the law needs to catch up with technology and since it hasn't yet, they had to find a law they could charge her under. If it wasn't on the computer what she did would be considered stalking, harrassment and child enticement.

Azselendor · #5 May 17th, 2008, 07:28 PM

Had the prosecution done their job, they would've nailed her on all of that as in most cases, the law doesn't define the medium used-- merely define the act of doing so as the crime.

Mindi · #6 May 17th, 2008, 08:04 PM

True, I think it was a failure of the local law enforcement. I think the fact that the parents aren't letting this rest forced people higher up to get involved and that's why it's a federal case now.

narf poit chez BOOM · #7 May 17th, 2008, 08:57 PM

To quote something I've seen plenty of places, "Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

MrToxin · #8 May 18th, 2008, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Mindi said:
I can understand the slippery slope theory, but I really think it's because of the circumstances surrounding what this woman did to a 13 year old girl, who eventually hung herself because of it, is the only reason they are going after her. This is one area where the law needs to catch up with technology and since it hasn't yet, they had to find a law they could charge her under. If it wasn't on the computer what she did would be considered stalking, harrassment and child enticement.

Stalking, harassment, child enticement, yes...but, if you look at it, nobody really "causes" a suicide. Suicidal people are, in a lot of ways, ticking time bombs. If you don't defuse them, they eventually blow up.

While we're talking "everybody's a criminal," did you ever accept cash from somebody and not report it? Yup, the IRS wants to know about it anyway, even if it was a $10 bill. Ever bought something off of a friend and didn't report it? Guess what? Same thing.

Azselendor · #9 May 18th, 2008, 02:30 AM

That's the issue at hand, she caused a suicide which in itself is only a crime committed by the person committing suicide. However, the mental anguish and criminality of the acts leading up to that end event are the actual crimes.

Providing a false name to a subsidiary of News Corp, imo, doesn't make a crime. Now if it's to local/state/federal authorities, then yes. In fact, cyberbulling itself would already be covered under existing laws dealing with mail and wire crimes.

Mindi · #10 May 18th, 2008, 05:10 AM

Quote:

MrToxin said:

Quote:

Mindi said:
I can understand the slippery slope theory, but I really think it's because of the circumstances surrounding what this woman did to a 13 year old girl, who eventually hung herself because of it, is the only reason they are going after her. This is one area where the law needs to catch up with technology and since it hasn't yet, they had to find a law they could charge her under. If it wasn't on the computer what she did would be considered stalking, harrassment and child enticement.

Stalking, harassment, child enticement, yes...but, if you look at it, nobody really "causes" a suicide. Suicidal people are, in a lot of ways, ticking time bombs. If you don't defuse them, they eventually blow up.

While I agree with you that the only person who can "cause" a suicide is the person who takes their own life, an adult should know better than to torture and play with the emotions and mental state of a 13 year old girl. That's such a horrible age to be going through where everything seems magnified and you're going through all sorts of emotions for the first time that you don't really know how to handle. Everything that happens to you at that age seems like the end of the world.

I also think that our current laws should be enforced and should cover these issues..but the local law enforcement there swore there was nothing they had on their books that they could charge her with and have stick. I think they said part of the problem comes down to jurisdiction because technically the crime is wherever the server is located and not where the people are located. So then it is a multi-state issue....which got the feds involved....which leads to what can they charge her with on a federal level...etc.