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You Are Not a Lawyer

Posted by kdawson on from the help-in-thinking-like-one dept.

Paul Ohm is starting a new "very occasional" feature on the Freedom To Tinker blog called You Are Not a Lawyer — "In this series, I will try to disabuse computer scientists and other technically minded people of some commonly held misconceptions about the law (and the legal system)." In the first installment, Ohm walks through the reasons why many techies' faith in the presence of "reasonable doubt" is so misplaced. "When techies think about criminal law, and in particular crimes committed online, they tend to fixate on [the 'beyond a reasonable doubt'] legal standard, dreaming up ways people can use technology to inject doubt into the evidence to avoid being convicted. I can't count how many conversations I have had with techies about things like the 'open wireless access point defense,' the 'trojaned computer defense,' the 'NAT-ted firewall defense,' and the 'dynamic IP address defense.' ... People who place stock in these theories and tools are neglecting an important drawback. There are another set of legal standards — the legal standards governing search and seizure — you should worry about long before you ever get to 'beyond a reasonable doubt.'"

3 of 693 comments (clear)

  1. Re:IPBIC* by cthulu_mt · · Score: 0, Troll

    YANAL?

    Because your mom let's us.

    --
    Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
  2. Re:Only thing more annoying... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    "[T]he lawyer exists to aid his client in getting the best possible deal."

    And that's what's wrong. "You go along with our immoral, unconstitutional, perverted, self-serving, big-business-focused system of laws that have stopped even pretending to serve the public good, and we'll allow you to stay in federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison for a little bit less time."

    We, as probably the most intelligent people in this land due to our skills in reasoning, know that there is something wrong with many of the laws in this country. WE DO NOT NEED TO BE LAWYERS. We know what is right, and you people who have basically given your heart and soul to the corruption this country has unfortunately embraced do not. We fight for what is right, what makes sense, what should be the law; you only serve to "save" people by exploiting the law and cutting "deals".

    Fuck lawyers. We don't want them, we don't need them, we don't pretend to be them.

    AC because I know some moronic scum is going to mod this down.

  3. Re:Wow! Who ever would have guessed that!? by fm6 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'd love to quibble with you about the definition of "definition", but I don't want to.