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That's the nature of opinions, though; they're not supposed to be for your benefit, they just give you something to consider. I have a tendency to agree with t

That's the nature of opinions, though; they're not supposed to be for your benefit, they just give you something to consider. I have a tendency to agree with the kind of people that downplay panic, simply because they seem more focused on what has happened than on the worst that might possibly happen. When "swine flu" broke out, we had the people that told us that it was deadly and dangerous, then we had the people that told us it was worth being careful but not worth being petrified. You bring up the RIAA and I think that's a good choice of analogy for anti-alarmism -- when you're that unlucky individual who does get hit with a lawsuit, you're pretty screwed and the problem is pretty bad. However, I have known a lot of filesharers (I am in college after all), and not one actual lawsuit victim. It's not analogous to the scale of, say, a nuclear accident or $250,000 in tax penalties, but I think it's still reasonable to consider the odds of actually getting hit before freaking out.

tsotha 15y ago
I have a tendency to agree with the kind of people that downplay panic, simply because they seem more focused on what has happened than on the worst that might possibly happen. But that's the problem - the worst that could possibly happen is very possible. Basically what it means is you can't go to the US, because in theory you could be met at the airport and thrown into jail. The fact that you're a little fish won't matter to the IRS. They're just filling out forms. Of course you can take your chances, but for most people the risk of getting jailed for tax evasion outweighs any possible positive outcome from a trip to the states. Over the last decade the US Congress turned US citizens into subjects. The only reason there isn't a great hue and cry is voters in the US don't know. The federal legal code has gotten so large and arcane even the lawyers don't know it outside their own narrow specialty.

tsotha 15y ago

I have a tendency to agree with the kind of people that downplay panic, simply because they seem more focused on what has happened than on the worst that might possibly happen. But that's the problem - the worst that could possibly happen is very possible. Basically what it means is you can't go to the US, because in theory you could be met at the airport and thrown into jail. The fact that you're a little fish won't matter to the IRS. They're just filling out forms. Of course you can take your chances, but for most people the risk of getting jailed for tax evasion outweighs any possible positive outcome from a trip to the states. Over the last decade the US Congress turned US citizens into subjects. The only reason there isn't a great hue and cry is voters in the US don't know. The federal legal code has gotten so large and arcane even the lawyers don't know it outside their own narrow specialty.