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Sheriff Raids House to Find Anonymous Blogger Who Called Him Corrupt
- envy2 10y agoThis type of behaviour unfortunately seems to be becoming a trend. While not nearly as bad as a raid, Facebook called out a US county prosecutor for attempting to have a page criticising local officials removed in its last transparency report: Date: October 2015 Content: A page protesting a county animal control agency. Request: We received a request from a county prosecutor's office to remove a page opposing a county animal control agency, alleging that the page made threatening comments about the director of the agency and violated laws against menacing. Result: We reviewed the content and determined that the page did not contain credible threats and therefore did not violate our Community Standards. We took no other action on the page for reasons of the public interest. Source: https://govtrequests.facebook.com/faq/ https://govtrequests.facebook.com/faq/, all the way at the bottom
- ben_jones 10y agoAnd two days ago... "Facebook bows to anti-science activists, shuts down ‘We Love GMOs and Vaccines’"[1]. It seems like Facebook is playing both sides in this matter. [1]: https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/08/04/facebook-bows-anti-science-activists-shuts-love-gmos-vaccines/ https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/08/04/facebook-b...
- kafkaesq 10y agoBut isn't there more to the story here? One of the commenters indicated that FB took down that page for being "violent in nature" (details not provided) -- not simply for its pro-GMO/Vaccine stance.
- robryk 10y agoDisclaimer: I know noting about this particular case. It is possible to fool FB into removing a page or some content. One way that is sometimes attempted (with some success) is to spam the comments on the page with objectionable content (hopefully goading other people to respond in kind) or (if it's an open group) join it and do the same. Then have other people report the page. Also, simple misunderstandings happen. E.g. a post gets removed due to being threatening; in fact the post was just citing a threat allegedly made by an official. This seems to be even more likely to happen if many people report that content as objectionable: thus, people opposed to some organization/idea organize into mobs that report related posts as being objectionable.
- tedunangst 10y agoSeems fairly easy for the group admin to flag abusive posters. If there's no active admin, is it such a great loss for the group to shut down?
- robryk 10y agoThis depends on the throughput of spamming that's going on. The throughput can be quite large if there's a significant amount of people cooperating. Also, this means that admins have to spend a nontrivial amount of time on such work on every single day. The examples I know of are groups of political movements that have a lot of haters, so that might be somewhat of an edge case.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- envy2 10y agoThe page in question appears to be back online [1]. I suspect that, when you're dealing with what must amount to tens of millions of reports a day from users, mistakes are made. Thankfully, it seems like this one was corrected. [1]: https://www.facebook.com/welovegv/ https://www.facebook.com/welovegv/
- TeMPOraL 10y ago... thus proving the point.
- zymhan 10y agoWhile discovering irony in the process.
- ajmurmann 10y agoThe current situation surrounding law enforcement in the US is complicated and there are many sides to it. However, I've always been of the opinion that corrupt officials in any government position are a huge thread to society especially in law enforcement since they are highly visible and thus hugely impact how society perceived justice. Therefore I always held the opinion that punishment for corruption in these positions should be absolutely draconic. On the flip side we should probably also pay more to attract top talent. I guess my dream of police officers who in their spare time have lively debates about Kant will never come to fruition ;) EDIT: Spacing
- marcoperaza 10y agoThe ideal situation that you've described is how the FBI actually works. The FBI is highly selective, requires a bachelors degree minimum (though I hear new hires increasingly have even more higher education), treats misconduct very seriously, and pays professional salaries. You'll notice that most controversies about the FBI concern policies set at the very top, almost never abuses of power or denial of rights. I agree that we need to similarly professionalize local police forces. I'd rather see it done at the state level to maintain more local, rather than federal, control of policing.
- archgoon 10y ago> The ideal situation that you've described is how the FBI actually works. FBI Agents in their off hours have engaging philosophical debates? I hadn't heard about this. Is this from personal experience, or is this a criticism of the FBI of them being too impractical? EDIT: This was a legitimate inqury. Is it really so absurd to imagine some FBI agents having Thursday Philosophical Book Club? That some people on HN might have gone to them? If so, it sounded interesting.
- marcoperaza 10y agoI'm not referring to your comment (I thought joke...) about what they talk about in their off time, but about a more professional force with greater discipline and pay.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- otterley 10y agoI'm surprised the judge issued a warrant for this, in light of the Constitutional issues involved here -- but unfortunately I'm not aware of any way to sanction a judge for doing so; the only remedy for a defective warrant is suppression of evidence obtained from it. Unfortunately, Constitutional protections are only a defense to libel, so the prima facie case can still be made, and the warrant could technically still issue. Sigh. The law sucks sometimes.
- spacemanmatt 10y agoSeems like PC for libel should be the written article itself. I don't understand at all how you're proposing the warrant might be valid.
- otterley 10y agoThe elements of criminal libel in Louisiana are clearly enumerated at http://law.justia.com/codes/louisiana/2006/146/78544.html http://law.justia.com/codes/louisiana/2006/146/78544.html. If the written article constitutes facts sufficient to allege a violation, then a warrant can issue.
- Paul-ish 10y agoSomeone on reddit[1] was suggesting that the judge and the sheriff were buddies. * https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/4wapuz/sheriff_raids_house_to_find_anonymous_blogger_who/d664d3d https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/4wapuz/sheriff_...
- imaginenore 10y agoA lawsuit against the city / state is the mechanism. If it becomes too expensive because of some dumb judge, the judge gets removed. The downside, of course, is that you have to use the judicial system to achieve it.
- jwatte 10y agoIn America, justice may sometimes be available, to those who can afford to pay for it.
- otterley 10y agoPrimary source: http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/terrebonne-sheriff-raids-house-to-expose-esposedat-anti-corruption-blog-1/286912409 http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/terrebonne-sheriff-raids-hou...
- ajmurmann 10y agoThat's exactly the kind of stuff that in my opinion the death penalty should be used for. Edit: if what you are saying is true that's exactly the kind of behaviour that's undermining our entire justice system and faith in the government and the system as a whole.
- dang 10y agoThis sort of rhetoric damages the quality we're hoping for here. Having a civil, substantive discussion about something mostly isn't compatible with advocating death for it. We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12238910 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12238910 and marked it off-topic.
- tamana 10y agoIn US law, treason is punishable by death. Abusing a government role undermines the legitimacy of gover and so is arguably treason (it isn't under current law, but some like GP believe it should be)
- zymhan 10y ago"undermining the legitimacy of gover [sic]" is far too squishy of a reason to execute someone. You need to prove that by killing them, society is better off than if we'd kept them in maximum security for the rest of their natural life.
- Karunamon 10y agoI'm generally against the death penalty, but I'm definitely open to reconsidering that stance when it comes to willful and egregious nonsense like this.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- rhizome 10y agoIt isn't even arguably treason, as much as GP would like it to even be a question.
- e40 10y agoDidn't the sheriff just prove he was corrupt?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- apathy 10y agoI was surprised when I read this, but only because the sheriff wasn't Joe Arpaio. Certain law enforcement officers apparently receive training in How to Ignore the Constitution and Laws of the State and Country That You Swore to Uphold these days, perhaps in place of the former training for responsible use of firearms. This is unfortunate. On the other hand, it IS Louisiana, the home of such great statesmen as "Dollar" Bill Jefferson and Ray Nagin, whose service the federal government now honors by providing them with round the clock housing and sustenance.
- ccleve 10y agoCan someone explain what "criminal defamation" is? Is that even a thing? In what circumstances is it a crime to defame someone, and not merely a cause of action in a civil suit?
- pravda 10y agoIt used to be a thing, but at this point there are very few states with criminal defamation laws on the books. Here is Virginia's "§ 18.2-417. Slander and libel. Any person who shall falsely utter and speak, or falsely write and publish, of and concerning any female of chaste character, any words derogatory of such female's character for virtue and chastity, or imputing to such female acts not virtuous and chaste, or who shall falsely utter and speak, or falsely write and publish, of and concerning another person, any words which from their usual construction and common acceptation are construed as insults and tend to violence and breach of the peace or shall use grossly insulting language to any female of good character or reputation, shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor." So don't be throwing around the 'ho word about your ex-girlfriend!
- icebraining 10y agoApparently it is a thing in many states: http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/criminal-libel-statutes-state-by-state http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/criminal-libel-statutes-... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_defamation_law#Criminal_defamation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_defamation_law#C...
- kafkaesq 10y agoIt's whatever the Sheriff of Terrebone Parish wants it to mean, apparently: Larpenter told WWL: “If you’re gonna lie about me and make it under a fictitious name, I’m gonna come after you.”
- walrus01 10y agoLouisiana, its politics and law enforcement are basically a third world country. It's as corrupt if not more than the city politics and criminal politicians in Chicago and Detroit. Can't say I'm surprised.