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If a user gets caught leaving a library with photocopies of public, published documents, would you consider that a crime too?
by NickNameNick 14y ago
If a user gets caught leaving a library with photocopies of public, published documents, would you consider that a crime too?
- raldi 14y agoNo, but I don't see how that's relevant to my point.. which was merely that it's possible for a person to commit a crime without harming anyone or doing damage.
- ucee054 14y agoWere you making that point in the abstract, or were you, I don't know, in a thread of comments on an article about Aaron Swartz?
- GHFigs 14y agoHe was responding to a comment making the argument that something cannot be a crime if no damage is done and no one is hurt. He even quoted the as much of the comment he was replying to. Please, please, please, pay attention to context before accusing someone of ignoring context. It makes it very difficult for people to have nuanced debates about complex events if nobody is allowed to isolate a part of the problem independent of others.
- raldi 14y ago> It makes it very difficult for people to have nuanced debates about complex events Yes! Thank you, I was trying to put in words why the initial downvote wave on my comment really bothered me, and this is exactly it.
- DanBC 14y ago> cannot be a crime I don't think I said that! I did say that if I had to chose between "federal crime" or prank that I'd chose prank. But if you extended the list to include misdemeanour or somesuch I guess I could see that.
- raldi 14y ago> I did say that if I had to chose between "federal crime" or prank that I'd chose prank. Sure, but that's a false dichotomy. The author was under no such constraint, so it was sensationalist and misleading for him to keep referring to it as a prank. And when I say that, I'm not casting judgement here. The Boston Tea Party and the Rosa Parks protest weren't pranks either.