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> “Trust us, we'd never use it against the people it's supposed to protect” isn't enough. Especially because it's been so horribly abused in the past. Take thi

> “Trust us, we'd never use it against the people it's supposed to protect” isn't enough. Especially because it's been so horribly abused in the past. Take this case in Manassas, Virginia. 17 year old texts a picture of his penis to his 15 year old girlfriend. The police find out, charge the 17 year old with distributing child pornography, and take pictures of his penis saying they need it for evidence[1]. They then get a warrant from the courts demanding that the 17 year old send them a picture of his erect penis[2]. And if he didn't comply: > If he doesn't cooperate, the Manassas City Police Department has threatened to take him to a hospital and medically induce an erection with an injection, attorney Jessica Harbeson Foster toldThe Washington Post. Eventually they backed off when it received widespread attention in the press. Later it turned out that the detective in charge of the case was a pedophile[3]: > A Manassas City police detective, who was the lead investigator in a controversial teen “sexting” case last year, shot and killed himself outside his home Tuesday morning as police tried to arrest him for allegedly molesting two boys he met while coaching youth hockey in Prince William County. When I read stories like this, I'm at a loss for words. No one in the justice system realized how terrible this is? Not only does this show the problem with giving law enforcement this kind of power, but I think it shows that we really need some sort of public advocacy department to monitor and go after this sort of abuse (someone to watch the watchmen). The kid in the case got probation, by the way. [1] http://time.com/2971033/virginia-police-search-warrant-photos-sexting-teen-genitals/ http://time.com/2971033/virginia-police-search-warrant-photo... [2] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/09/virginia-teen-sexting-cops-penis-photo/12434813/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/09/virgin... [3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/manassas-city-police-detective-in-teen-sexting-case-commits-suicide/2015/12/15/de88f7c4-a356-11e5-9c4e-be37f66848bb_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/manassas-...

deleted 9y ago
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astral303 9y ago
This case is such atrocious abuse of power. The fallout from this case did not affect nearly enough people. Think of all the enablers of this behavior at the various stages. The patriarchy has much of America in their clutch at various levels of so-called "public" service. Why was this man never reported? Everyone covered up for him. Standard operating procedure for America.
- astral303 9y ago
  If you don't believe me, this headline is from june 2017. Not even Hillary Clinton, as an NY senator, chose to tackle this issue. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-ends-child-marriage-raising-age-of-consent-from-14-to-18/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-ends-child-marriage-ra...
- adrianN 9y ago
  What does this have to do with the so-called patriarchy?
  - jquery 9y ago
    "The patriarchy" has evolved to mean "something I don't like" so it's a pretty accurate use of the term.
    - ryan_j_naughton 9y ago
      Words evolve and our usage changes, but there are better and worse ways for this change to happen. Changes that bring ambiguity unintentionally are generally bad. e.g. "something I don't like".
    - pessimizer 9y ago
      It means what it always meant, the tree of men who control things. It's just become more widely used because the fact that everything is controlled by men in authority doesn't need feminism to be true, it just needed feminism to be pointed out. It's just as true no matter what your concerns about authority are. Not using the word is just being unnecessarily vague. It's akin to something that bothers me personally; when people refer to "America" when they mean "White America." Yes, the recent rise of the alt-right has put on display an undercurrent of discontent in America, but when you say that, you're not being specific in a way that is distorting.
  - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
    When you imagine the archetype of a person with both the desire and ability to throw teenagers in prison for sharing pictures of their own bodies, it's hands-down an old rich white guy.
tinus_hn 9y ago
A major problem is that there are no consequences whatsoever for the judge that rubberstamped this ridiculous warrant.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

astral303 9y ago

This case is such atrocious abuse of power. The fallout from this case did not affect nearly enough people. Think of all the enablers of this behavior at the various stages. The patriarchy has much of America in their clutch at various levels of so-called "public" service. Why was this man never reported? Everyone covered up for him. Standard operating procedure for America.

astral303 9y ago
If you don't believe me, this headline is from june 2017. Not even Hillary Clinton, as an NY senator, chose to tackle this issue. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-ends-child-marriage-raising-age-of-consent-from-14-to-18/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-ends-child-marriage-ra...
adrianN 9y ago
What does this have to do with the so-called patriarchy?
- jquery 9y ago
  "The patriarchy" has evolved to mean "something I don't like" so it's a pretty accurate use of the term.
  - ryan_j_naughton 9y ago
    Words evolve and our usage changes, but there are better and worse ways for this change to happen. Changes that bring ambiguity unintentionally are generally bad. e.g. "something I don't like".
  - pessimizer 9y ago
    It means what it always meant, the tree of men who control things. It's just become more widely used because the fact that everything is controlled by men in authority doesn't need feminism to be true, it just needed feminism to be pointed out. It's just as true no matter what your concerns about authority are. Not using the word is just being unnecessarily vague. It's akin to something that bothers me personally; when people refer to "America" when they mean "White America." Yes, the recent rise of the alt-right has put on display an undercurrent of discontent in America, but when you say that, you're not being specific in a way that is distorting.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  When you imagine the archetype of a person with both the desire and ability to throw teenagers in prison for sharing pictures of their own bodies, it's hands-down an old rich white guy.

tinus_hn 9y ago

A major problem is that there are no consequences whatsoever for the judge that rubberstamped this ridiculous warrant.