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ELI5: Why should a US-based site, hosted on US soil and run by a US citizen, care about laws in all the hundreds of other random countries located thousands of

ELI5: Why should a US-based site, hosted on US soil and run by a US citizen, care about laws in all the hundreds of other random countries located thousands of miles away?

AdrianB1 2y ago
Because they can be arrested and extradited to UK. Not a high chance, but not zero. And a realistic one is to be arrested while traveling in Europe and extradited to UK.
- do_not_redeem 2y ago
  Are there any previous cases of the UK intercepting and arresting a US citizen traveling through Europe for something that isn't a crime in the US?
  - regularjack 2y ago
    Would you take the risk if it were you hosting the site?
    - do_not_redeem 2y ago
      100%. I'm very confident that, even if the UK wanted to upset this decades-long geopolitical equilibrium, they would not choose a small niche tech forum with a primarily non-UK userbase as the way they make their big splash on the global stage.
    - foldr 2y ago
      It's probably an order of magnitude smaller than the risk of getting into trouble in more or less any country for not effectively keeping tabs on the kind of content that's being posted in the forum you're hosting.
  - sshine 2y ago
    There are no documented cases of the UK intercepting and arresting a US citizen traveling through Europe for an act that is not a crime in the United States. Extradition treaties, such as the UK–US Extradition Treaty of 2003, allow for extradition requests between the two countries. They generally require that the alleged offense be a crime in both jurisdictions ("dual criminality") which ensures that individuals are not extradited for actions that are not considered crimes in their home country.
- puppycodes 2y ago
  Idk about you but I tend to avoid travel to police states and places where being rude is a crime. Extraditing someone because their website uses encryption would force them to prosecute so many people and organizations it would be a joke. You would have to really piss them off.
randunel 2y ago
Because he can face legal consequences for breaking the (local elsewhere) law. The US do the exact same, look up FATCA.
- apple4ever 2y ago
  That's a bit different though. If it was similar, he would just be blocked from interacting with the US at all. FATCA doesn't require arrests of non-US people breaking the law, it just harshly punishes those who do by excluding them from the US and holding a 30% amount of any money. (Note: I oppose FATCA in its entirely, just pointing out the difference here).

ELI5: Why should a US-based site, hosted on US soil and run by a US citizen, care about laws in all the hundreds of other random countries located thousands of miles away?

AdrianB1 2y ago

Because they can be arrested and extradited to UK. Not a high chance, but not zero. And a realistic one is to be arrested while traveling in Europe and extradited to UK.

do_not_redeem 2y ago
Are there any previous cases of the UK intercepting and arresting a US citizen traveling through Europe for something that isn't a crime in the US?
- regularjack 2y ago
  Would you take the risk if it were you hosting the site?
  - do_not_redeem 2y ago
    100%. I'm very confident that, even if the UK wanted to upset this decades-long geopolitical equilibrium, they would not choose a small niche tech forum with a primarily non-UK userbase as the way they make their big splash on the global stage.
  - foldr 2y ago
    It's probably an order of magnitude smaller than the risk of getting into trouble in more or less any country for not effectively keeping tabs on the kind of content that's being posted in the forum you're hosting.
- sshine 2y ago
  There are no documented cases of the UK intercepting and arresting a US citizen traveling through Europe for an act that is not a crime in the United States. Extradition treaties, such as the UK–US Extradition Treaty of 2003, allow for extradition requests between the two countries. They generally require that the alleged offense be a crime in both jurisdictions ("dual criminality") which ensures that individuals are not extradited for actions that are not considered crimes in their home country.
puppycodes 2y ago
Idk about you but I tend to avoid travel to police states and places where being rude is a crime. Extraditing someone because their website uses encryption would force them to prosecute so many people and organizations it would be a joke. You would have to really piss them off.

randunel 2y ago

Because he can face legal consequences for breaking the (local elsewhere) law. The US do the exact same, look up FATCA.

apple4ever 2y ago
That's a bit different though. If it was similar, he would just be blocked from interacting with the US at all. FATCA doesn't require arrests of non-US people breaking the law, it just harshly punishes those who do by excluding them from the US and holding a 30% amount of any money. (Note: I oppose FATCA in its entirely, just pointing out the difference here).