5 ms·

Ending her career would set a very clear precedent that other prosecutors would have no difficulty understanding. N'est pas?

• ChuckMcM 14y ago
  Sure, but I don't know if it would move the copyright reform question along. Copyright is very broken in a number of ways but there is broad consensus in people I've talked to that it is especially broken with regards to public records and science research. In the best of all possible worlds Aaron would have been acquitted with a landmark decision that said "this use of copyright in rent seeking behavior on documents of public discourse is unconstitutional."[1] Aaron was doing perhaps more than he knew to push this conversation along, had I known he was in such dire straits in his defense fund I would have helped in any way I could have. Clearly others would as well. If you look at Carmen's career you will find that she has actually done a lot of good, in getting bad folks put behind bars. She, or her staff, blew it on this one. I wish I knew why. I doubt we'll get the actual story there. So to what end would ending her career advance Aaron's goal of getting copyright on public records overturned? Making people "afraid" to prosecute it is the wrong answer, making it "not a crime" is the answer. There are only two ways to do that, one is to repeal the statute that makes it a crime in the first place, the second is to litigate the statute and find that the statute is invalid. Firing Carmen doesn't help, although I completely understand the emotional appeal of doing so. [1] I know that would not have happened it is illustrative.
  • jzwinck 14y ago
    Devil's advocate here. If Carmen actually agreed that Aaron's actions were not a crime, but wanted most of all to set a precedent, could that not explain her actions without malice? Maybe she was ideologically on Aaron's side, but recognized that a weak or cancelled prosecution would not yield a useful precedent. If she demonstrated a strong case and lost, it would send a message that Americans don't agree with strict enforcement of copyright in that way. Of course this would be little solace to Aaron, as he probably would not be made aware until afterward, if ever.
    • FSEA 14y ago
      "could that not explain her actions without malice?" You should look up the definition of malice because that describes her actions nicely. The intention or desire to do evil; ill will. Wrongful intention, esp. as increasing the guilt of certain offenses. Synonyms spite - malevolence - rancour - rancor - malignity
    • nitrogen 14y ago
      I suspect that having a lost prosecution on her record would be more harmful to her own goals than helpful to the goals of any causes, so this explanation seems unlikely to me.
    • rdl 14y ago
      That falls to Occam's Razor. Prosecution is the way to conviction, so just publicly choosing not to prosecute would be a strong message.=, ad much lower cost. Also, federal cases usually get settled in pleas, so there's less actual precedent. Going all the way to court would have been painful for him AND would have increased the odds of conviction.
  • w1ntermute 14y ago
    All the good she's done doesn't matter, because when you're a prosecutor, all it takes is one mistake and you've could have blood on your hands. Firing her would send a message to other prosecutors that mistakes will not be tolerated.
    • Kylekramer 14y ago
      Who decides whether this was a mistake or not? For all we know, the "blood" may be completely unrelated to the case.
    • jowiar 14y ago
      Which is a useless message to send. People make mistakes. Period. A system which is not robust to people making mistakes is disastrously broken.
      • randallsquared 14y ago
        Getting a prosecutor fired is orders of magnitude easier than meaningfully changing the system.
      • Turing_Machine 14y ago
        And people are expected to pay when they make mistakes. Period.
        • nitrogen 14y ago
          Better than just paying for mistakes is learning to prevent them the next time. If every major mistake anyone made was accompanied by an impartial failure analysis instead of finger pointing and scapegoating, society would advance much more quickly.
          • Turing_Machine 14y ago
            Maybe you should suggest that to the prosecutor.
        • 14y ago
  • Turing_Machine 14y ago
    "Making people "afraid" to prosecute it is the wrong answer" No, it isn't. Prosecutors need to be held responsible for their actions.
  • nitrogen 14y ago
    I think those calling for her resignation want to send a more general message about prosecutorial bullying, not just copyright policy.
• warmwaffles 14y ago
  You do realize, that you are suggesting we do "eye for an eye" right? She decided to drive a tack with a sledge hammer, and you are calling for us to do the same? I do think she is wrong, but attempting to do the same to her makes us no better than them.
  • Turing_Machine 14y ago
    Firing a bad employee is not "the same" as sending someone to federal prison for 30 years or hounding them to suicide. So in your view, employees should never be fired no matter how bad they screw up?
    • warmwaffles 14y ago
      I agree she should be fired. We just need to recognize we are doing the exact same thing they are.