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I can see why that would have been intimidating. With the decades of experience you've had since, do you think he could have gotten your landline terminated? Wh

I can see why that would have been intimidating. With the decades of experience you've had since, do you think he could have gotten your landline terminated? What would be the legal argument?

lb1lf 7y ago
-I am quite convinced it was just meant to drive home the point that they were being serious about me changing the welcome message. I do not think there is any legal way they could have severed my (well, my parents') phone service over such an issue - but then again, I had no desire to have to explain to my parents why the phone was dead, and promptly replaced the welcome with something along the lines of "This computer is so secret the DoD told the op not to ID it!" (Which, while rather flippant, was definitely true... Ah, the joys of being fifteen!)
jaywalk 7y ago
I can't even imagine there is a valid legal argument. If somebody calls me, I can say whatever I want. If I want to answer the phone by saying "Department of Defense, how can I help you?" the First Amendment guarantees me the right to do that. Now, I certainly could not call other people and claim to be the Department of Defense. That's fraud. The same applies if I had done something like put up flyers claiming my phone number was related to the DoD or something like that. I'm not a lawyer, but that's how I see it.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- lb1lf 7y ago
  I am in Norway, so the First Amendment carries little weight around here; our equivalent is 'Article 100' (of the Constitution) stating pretty much the same thing as the First Amendment. (This is hardly relevant; I just grasped the opportunity to stress that the HN crowd resides in the most peculiar places...)
  - jaywalk 7y ago
    Ah, I just assumed you were in the US because we actually have a Department of Defense.
    - pantheon 7y ago
      Every country has a Department of Defense.
      - jaywalk 7y ago
        But it's not necessarily called the Department of Defense. That's literally the name of it in the US.
        outworlder 7y ago
        Wasn't it the Department of War, a long time ago?
  - Jenz 7y ago
    Now, I definitely am biased, being a norwegian myself. But I see people mentioning themselves being norwegians everywhere here on HN. I don’t recall seeing half as many people going around saying, «I’m a dane» or similar; this seems peculiar, Norway is small. I wonder if it actually is at it seems to me, or if I just miss these seemingly non–but—actually-not–non-existant remarks.
    - jacobush 7y ago
      They just like to point it out. :-D I suppose they are afraid someone would take them for a Swede, that'd be embarrassing.
      - tephra 7y ago
        Not so long ago there were people who were born when Sweden and Norway were in a union together.
- aspenmayer 7y ago
  There are laws against representing yourself as military (active or former) when you are not a member; these laws are pretty narrow in scope and likely would not affect you answering the phone in this manner. Another concern is to avoid (mis)representing yourself as any kind of law enforcement or emergency services involved capacity, as I believe there are federal regulations forbidding this. I'd be more concerned with making false statements to federal agents, which is a crime, when answering the phone using those words. At that point in the call, you are announcing yourself and making verifiable statements, although in jest. But if you're talking to someone who wants to ruin your weekend, they will find a way to do so.

I can see why that would have been intimidating. With the decades of experience you've had since, do you think he could have gotten your landline terminated? What would be the legal argument?

lb1lf 7y ago

-I am quite convinced it was just meant to drive home the point that they were being serious about me changing the welcome message. I do not think there is any legal way they could have severed my (well, my parents') phone service over such an issue - but then again, I had no desire to have to explain to my parents why the phone was dead, and promptly replaced the welcome with something along the lines of "This computer is so secret the DoD told the op not to ID it!" (Which, while rather flippant, was definitely true... Ah, the joys of being fifteen!)

jaywalk 7y ago

I can't even imagine there is a valid legal argument. If somebody calls me, I can say whatever I want. If I want to answer the phone by saying "Department of Defense, how can I help you?" the First Amendment guarantees me the right to do that. Now, I certainly could not call other people and claim to be the Department of Defense. That's fraud. The same applies if I had done something like put up flyers claiming my phone number was related to the DoD or something like that. I'm not a lawyer, but that's how I see it.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
lb1lf 7y ago
I am in Norway, so the First Amendment carries little weight around here; our equivalent is 'Article 100' (of the Constitution) stating pretty much the same thing as the First Amendment. (This is hardly relevant; I just grasped the opportunity to stress that the HN crowd resides in the most peculiar places...)
- jaywalk 7y ago
  Ah, I just assumed you were in the US because we actually have a Department of Defense.
  - pantheon 7y ago
    Every country has a Department of Defense.
    - jaywalk 7y ago
      But it's not necessarily called the Department of Defense. That's literally the name of it in the US.
      - outworlder 7y ago
        Wasn't it the Department of War, a long time ago?
- Jenz 7y ago
  Now, I definitely am biased, being a norwegian myself. But I see people mentioning themselves being norwegians everywhere here on HN. I don’t recall seeing half as many people going around saying, «I’m a dane» or similar; this seems peculiar, Norway is small. I wonder if it actually is at it seems to me, or if I just miss these seemingly non–but—actually-not–non-existant remarks.
  - jacobush 7y ago
    They just like to point it out. :-D I suppose they are afraid someone would take them for a Swede, that'd be embarrassing.
    - tephra 7y ago
      Not so long ago there were people who were born when Sweden and Norway were in a union together.
aspenmayer 7y ago
There are laws against representing yourself as military (active or former) when you are not a member; these laws are pretty narrow in scope and likely would not affect you answering the phone in this manner. Another concern is to avoid (mis)representing yourself as any kind of law enforcement or emergency services involved capacity, as I believe there are federal regulations forbidding this. I'd be more concerned with making false statements to federal agents, which is a crime, when answering the phone using those words. At that point in the call, you are announcing yourself and making verifiable statements, although in jest. But if you're talking to someone who wants to ruin your weekend, they will find a way to do so.