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$1MM is not a fantastical figure. Not every lawyer can mount an adequate defense in a federal criminal case and the ones that can cost a lot of money. As for s
by tkahn6 14y ago
$1MM is not a fantastical figure. Not every lawyer can mount an adequate defense in a federal criminal case and the ones that can cost a lot of money.
As for sentencing, it doesn't matter. He shouldn't have been charged in the first place and it shouldn't be policy to throw an absurd amount of charges at someone knowing that only a few will stick.
As for his socioeconomic status, I am also a white middle class kid who likes computers and so I identify with him. That's why I care more about this issue. That seems to be your point, but it's just a basic reality of human psychology and it's not revelatory or significant. It doesn't change the fact that what happened to him is wrong.
- sociotech 14y agoRemember, Lessig's point was that Aaron SHOULD have been punished but that the sentence was disproportionate. And we can rise above our prejudices and instinctive "identifications." I don't accept that we have to follow our instinctive "psychology" (which is quite more nuanced than you are suggesting) instead of something more logical.
- zaidf 14y agoPunishment could be being banned from the MIT network in future. Punishment could be banned from computer use for x days. Punishment could be a severe monetary punishment.
- nostrademons 14y agoRising above our prejudices and instinctive "identifications" would be acknowledging that maybe there's something wrong with the drug laws that incarcerate 1 in 3 poor black men. Not denying that there's also something wrong with threatening 35 years in prison for downloading publicly-funded research papers. In other words, don't invalidate one injustice simply because we can't fix all injustices.