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Texas County Will Use Twitter To Publish Drunk Drivers' Names
alphadogg contributes this snippet from Network World: "If you get busted for drunk driving in Montgomery County, Texas, this holiday season, your neighbors may hear about it on Twitter. That's because the local district attorney's office has decided to publish the names of those charged with driving while intoxicated between Christmas and New Year's Eve. County Vehicular Crimes Prosecutor Warren Diepraam came up with the idea as a way of discouraging residents from getting behind the wheel while drunk. 'It's not a magic bullet that's going to end DWIs, but it's something to make people think twice before they get behind the wheel of a car and drive while they're intoxicated,' he said."
Umm they are publishing via twitter data that anyone can get (frequently from boring local newssheets/newspapers) on who was arrested.. IE its not a "this person is guilty and we are preconvicting them" merely a statement of information that so and so was arrested. .. is gossip mongering an appropriate or even an effective tool..
The argument is not that people are wrongly put on feed, the discussion should rather be about
On its face the idea that "consequences" will prevent a poor decision.. in this case should already be covered by the fact that they are not only putting their own lives into jeopardy, but also anyone in the vehicle or on the road or even NEAR the road.. should they not? Is twitter identification a stronger motivation than potentially killing or seriously injuring yourself and others, as well as potential jail time already a VERY strong reason to not engage in this type of behavior? is there potential for possible embarassing phone calls from similarly named people who show up on the feed? If it really was not you, thats easy enough to prove that anyone could check it in 2 secs, and would be in a world of legal trouble for firing based on it.
I submit for discussion that.. if your name on twitter means more to you than your life.. there are MUCH bigger issues than this one to worry about.
If I walked up to you with a partially loaded revolver, spun the chamber, and pulled the trigger, am I committing a crime if the gun doesn't fire a bullet? I say yes. You seem to be saying no. I believe in reckless endangerment. People who DUI are gambling with my life, so they can go fuck themselves.
Nope. I actually never get pulled over, actually. Last time was '97. Though I did have a cop point a gun at my head for what seemed like forever in 1999 because I dared to try to ask directions.
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
You say arresting people for DUI is like a pre-cog court? Isn't it illegal to point a loaded gun at people even though you don't shoot them, because of reckless endangerment? Isn't it illegal to possess bomb making equipment, even though you haven't built a bomb, because of reckless endangerment? Isn't it illegal to light a building on fire, even though everyone escaped? Arresting people for DUI is the one of the only types of arrests that saves lives. You are behind the wheel of a weapon, and not completely able to control it. Trust me, the only ones who get treated like they killed someone are the ones who do. Otherwise the courts just fine the hell out of em and make em attend AA classes. If it was rich, I'd hire more officers everyday just to pull people over for DUI. People who drive drunk are douchebags.