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> I'm sorry, do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to jail. That's a disproportionate amount of bluster given that 1. That was a single counterexamp
by chillingeffect 12y ago
> I'm sorry, do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to jail.
That's a disproportionate amount of bluster given that 1. That was a single counterexample.
2. The article you posted says:
Federal District Judge Liam O’Grady said: "There’s nothing unlawful about maybe 95 per cent of the business he [Dixon] conducted” but found criminal fault in his willingness to assist would-be applicants and others to lie to federal agencies, the Washington Post reported.
In other words, the polygraph-beating information was not illegal, but he was prosecuted for helping people lie to federal agencies (a crime itself). Undercover agents ensnared him via a technicality. But if the class were restricted to polygraph-beating, without persuading students to lie to federales, he wouldn't have served his relatively minor sentence of 8 months.
Contrast one guy going to jail for 8 months with the hundreds of millions of dollars seized from people not charged with crimes in the original article. Consider the zillions of materials and resources available for learning to assault someone, to hack into computer systems, to break locks, websites on "how to rob someone" (google it) and make explosives and the distinction is clear.
- pixl97 12y agoThat is a single counterexample simply because I decided to post a single one. Working in the firearms industry for years has shown me that if the ATF/FBI don't like what you are doing they can legally make your life hell. 'Someone' makes an anonymous tip, judge rubber stamps a warrant to search all your premises. Two parts from unrelated weapons in the same building, conspiracy to build a machine gun. What you don't understand is, you don't understand the full technicalities of the law and your adversary does. Does it really matter if they don't convict you in the end if you exhaust all your resources fighting them on lawyers?