4 ms·

What happens when the thieves acquire the police? Who is going to police content, and for what purpose now? We already know that Facebook has profited tremend

What happens when the thieves acquire the police? Who is going to police content, and for what purpose now? We already know that Facebook has profited tremendously from the freebooters.

QAPereo 9y ago
In a more real-world sense, I think you can look at the current state of law enforcement around drug laws in the US for a solid guide to the sort of relationships you're describing. Eventually, the police and the thieves become the same thing; the state thieves.
- geofft 9y ago
  In the United States, more private property was lost last year to "civil asset forfeiture" than to conventional thieves. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/23/cops-took-more-stuff-from-people-than-burglars-did-last-year/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/23/cops-...
  - camiller 9y ago
    neither the article nor the year it refers to were last year. And even the article says it isn't true: "...but this isn't exactly right: The FBI also tracks property losses from larceny and theft, in addition to plain ol' burglary. If you add up all the property stolen in 2014, from burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and other means, you arrive at roughly $12.3 billion, according to the FBI. That's more than double the federal asset forfeiture haul." Furthermore, a big chunk of that 2014 number was Bernie Madoff, per your atricle. And finally, a big chunk actually goes back to the victims of the crimes ultimately linked to the forfeiture, again per your article.
geofft 9y ago
They're both corporations. A thieves/police distinction has always been meaningless. If you want content to be policed because policing content is a social good, make the government (the actual police) do it. If you want content to be policed because it's profitable, the vertical integration of "thieves" and "police" lets you leverage synergies.

What happens when the thieves acquire the police? Who is going to police content, and for what purpose now? We already know that Facebook has profited tremendously from the freebooters.

QAPereo 9y ago

In a more real-world sense, I think you can look at the current state of law enforcement around drug laws in the US for a solid guide to the sort of relationships you're describing. Eventually, the police and the thieves become the same thing; the state thieves.

geofft 9y ago
In the United States, more private property was lost last year to "civil asset forfeiture" than to conventional thieves. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/23/cops-took-more-stuff-from-people-than-burglars-did-last-year/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/23/cops-...
- camiller 9y ago
  neither the article nor the year it refers to were last year. And even the article says it isn't true: "...but this isn't exactly right: The FBI also tracks property losses from larceny and theft, in addition to plain ol' burglary. If you add up all the property stolen in 2014, from burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and other means, you arrive at roughly $12.3 billion, according to the FBI. That's more than double the federal asset forfeiture haul." Furthermore, a big chunk of that 2014 number was Bernie Madoff, per your atricle. And finally, a big chunk actually goes back to the victims of the crimes ultimately linked to the forfeiture, again per your article.

geofft 9y ago

They're both corporations. A thieves/police distinction has always been meaningless. If you want content to be policed because policing content is a social good, make the government (the actual police) do it. If you want content to be policed because it's profitable, the vertical integration of "thieves" and "police" lets you leverage synergies.