Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

This is a much deeper problem - there are so many laws, and so little public knowledge of many of them, that it's pretty close to being true that anyone the government wants to coerce into doing something against their own interest can probably be threatened with being charged with something (with at least reasonable chance of success in convicting).

When the best unpaid legal advice you can find says "Don't talk to police" already* - think how much worse that situation is going to get if the FBI gets away with saying "recording every conversation you ever have in a public place just in case we want to take it out of context and use it as evidence against you is entirely legal, moral, and ethical, and no warrant or any form of external oversight is required for us to do it".

When "every single person is a criminal", there's a deeply disturbing imbalance in power between law enforcement and the populace. It won't just be the dissidents, it'll be everybody that stands in the way of career-climbing LEO or profit seeking civil-asset-forfiture-funded LEO organisations (in fact in my worst dystopian imaginings, not prosecuting selected dissidents will be how the LEO community controls the political class...)

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc




When "every single person is a criminal",

That is tyranny ^


Tyranny? This is America!


Here is a fun fact about "don't talk to the police". The advice applies to everyone, even the police. The union regularly warns members about this. You cannot avoid answering questions as a police officer but if you're being compelled to talk without the presence of an attorney, there are limits on what the superiors can do with the statements.

So basically in case your superiors are planning to put criminal charges on you, you should ask if you are at liberty to not talk without an attorney present.

So remember when you hear the "don't talk to the police" line that even police officers don't talk to the police.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: