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For better or worse, the US is not Germany. Comparing the two won't necessarily be that enlightening. Consider, for a moment, why the thief in this case is no
by ezy 16y ago
For better or worse, the US is not Germany. Comparing the two won't necessarily be that enlightening. Consider, for a moment, why the thief in this case is not being prosecuted at this very moment. I would consider that even more unprofessional.
So yes, abstractly, a thief should not have to give up their rights, but on the other hand, it's a thief -- and there's a particular concrete US ethos that influences mine and the jury's thinking about this. We wonder why we should care about the rights of this particular person who chose to steal other people's possessions.
In other words, cry me a river. :-)
- jarek 16y agoFirst of all, at the moment he hasn't been proven guilty. Second, when and if he is, criminals aren't stripped of all of their rights.
- ezy 16y agoBoth of which are true, but irrelevant to the comment I made.
- jarek 16y agoI'm confused. Are you saying that U.S. juries and judges are likely to overlook this in name of an, uh, ethos?
- scott_s 16y agoIt's not in the "name" of anything. That is, it's not a principled stand. He is claiming that people's prejudices and biases will cause them to overlook it.
- chicagobob 16y agoNo. What I think everyone is saying is that we find it surprising that the thief recording a video and putting it on the victims computer (essentially giving it to him) would have any rights to sue for at all in Germany or anywhere else for that matter. The fact that the thief knows that the computer is stolen property and is not rightfully his makes a big difference. For example, if he bought the computer for $250 he might be suspicious that it was stolen (otherwise why such a good deal?), but it is theoretically possible in that situation to give him the benefit of the doubt. Of course, that's not the case here.