5 ms·
Not sure why it doesn't belong on HN; it's part and parcel of the same institutional culture that gave us the prosecution of Aaron Swartz. Check out the detail
by bd_at_rivenhill 14y ago
Not sure why it doesn't belong on HN; it's part and parcel of the same institutional culture that gave us the prosecution of Aaron Swartz. Check out the details on one of the most infamous civil forfeiture cases: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._$124,700_in_U.S._Currency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._$124,700_in_U..... This looks like either outright stealing or extra-judicial conviction of someone for the crime of "being a Mexican in possession of a large amount of cash." Either way, it looks pretty bad to me and shows how far the US legal system has moved away protecting property rights.
- mindcrime 14y agoNot sure why it doesn't belong on HN; it's part and parcel of the same institutional culture that gave us the prosecution of Aaron Swartz. Yeah, but it's still basically just politics. If this wasn't Arrington, it wouldn't be on here, most likely. But we all got suckered into discussing it because of the personality involved. Aaron's case was a bit different, in that it involved more issues that are specifically of interest to hackers, AND some actual hacking (of a sort) was involved AND somebody died. Either way, it looks pretty bad to me and shows how far the US legal system has moved away protecting property rights. Absolutely, I agree. I just think this whole discussion is more suited for Reddit than HN. I wish I'd bit my tongue now. But, sadly, my comment above has gotten WAY more upvotes than a comment[1] I made around the same time, which I think is far more valuable and on topic (on a completely different thread). I find that discouraging. [1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5262488 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5262488