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Senator: Crime Victims Should Be Able to Sue Apple, Google for Encrypting Data

8 points by paralelogram 11y ago

MCRed 11y ago
How about we let citizens sue members of congress for passing legislation that violates the constitution? Instead of waiting years for the supreme court to maybe take a case, we should be able to take them to court where they have to meet a burden of proof to prove the constitution authorizes the legislation (Every line of it) and if they fail they are personally liable if they voted for it (or signed it in the case of the president.) Putting their own necks on the line might instill some discipline.
gumby 11y ago
Great idea. Let's also allow crime victims to sue car companies who make getaway cars.
- dba7dba 11y ago
  And how about construction companies that laid the road and made the bridges? And driving school instructors for teaching the criminals how to drive? Geesh.
afarrell 11y ago
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) was first elected in 2006, meaning he is up for re-election in November 2018. In 2012, he was the only candidate for the Democratic party and then beat his Republican opponent 64.81% to 34.97%. [1] Who among you would be willing to allocate volunteer-hours to help a civil-libertarian Democrat running to unseat him in 2018? Who among you would be willing to lead such a team? If politicians spend hours upon hours raising money that they can use to pay campaign workers, how would they feel knowing that an opponent has such a team already? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_Rhode_Island,_2012#Democratic_primary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_...
omarforgotpwd 11y ago
So I guess we can also sue gun companies that make murder weapons, right?
- hga 11y ago
  We can be pretty sure he doesn't like this law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_of_Lawful_Commerce_in_Arms_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_of_Lawful_Commerce_... The Republican he replaced was no prize, was one of only two who voted against it.
setpatchaddress 11y ago
The Democrats are supposed to support sound science. In practice, the supposedly enlightened left is often confused on these subjects (see also: support for the TSA). Are there no progressive think-tanks willing to step up in the tech policy department and educate Democratic politicians?
- namlem 11y ago
  The Democrats have a lot more intelligent, competent politicians among their ranks than the GOP, but that doesn't mean most of them aren't self-serving, out of touch assholes.

8 points by paralelogram 11y ago

MCRed 11y ago

How about we let citizens sue members of congress for passing legislation that violates the constitution? Instead of waiting years for the supreme court to maybe take a case, we should be able to take them to court where they have to meet a burden of proof to prove the constitution authorizes the legislation (Every line of it) and if they fail they are personally liable if they voted for it (or signed it in the case of the president.) Putting their own necks on the line might instill some discipline.

gumby 11y ago

Great idea. Let's also allow crime victims to sue car companies who make getaway cars.

dba7dba 11y ago
And how about construction companies that laid the road and made the bridges? And driving school instructors for teaching the criminals how to drive? Geesh.

afarrell 11y ago

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) was first elected in 2006, meaning he is up for re-election in November 2018. In 2012, he was the only candidate for the Democratic party and then beat his Republican opponent 64.81% to 34.97%. [1] Who among you would be willing to allocate volunteer-hours to help a civil-libertarian Democrat running to unseat him in 2018? Who among you would be willing to lead such a team? If politicians spend hours upon hours raising money that they can use to pay campaign workers, how would they feel knowing that an opponent has such a team already? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_Rhode_Island,_2012#Democratic_primary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_...

omarforgotpwd 11y ago

So I guess we can also sue gun companies that make murder weapons, right?

hga 11y ago
We can be pretty sure he doesn't like this law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_of_Lawful_Commerce_in_Arms_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_of_Lawful_Commerce_... The Republican he replaced was no prize, was one of only two who voted against it.

setpatchaddress 11y ago

The Democrats are supposed to support sound science. In practice, the supposedly enlightened left is often confused on these subjects (see also: support for the TSA). Are there no progressive think-tanks willing to step up in the tech policy department and educate Democratic politicians?

namlem 11y ago
The Democrats have a lot more intelligent, competent politicians among their ranks than the GOP, but that doesn't mean most of them aren't self-serving, out of touch assholes.