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Family Has Right of Privacy In Decapitation Photos
big6joe sends in an update to a morbid story we discussed last year: a California appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling, granting the family of an 18-year-old woman who was killed in a traffic accident in 2006 privacy rights and recourse against the California Highway Patrol. "In a case that highlights how the ease of online communication can overthrow both common sense and basic decency, a California appeals court has ruled that families have a right of privacy in the death images of their loved ones. In 2006, an eighteen-year-old woman was decapitated in a traffic accident. Two of the police officers who reported to the scene emailed photos of the woman's body to their friends and family one Halloween."
Interesting and to me plausible, anyone that can confirm this?
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Why is it that every time a cop misbehaves and gets called out for it, other cops crawl out of the woodwork and start defending his actions? Do you think that carrying a star makes you immune to laws? Are you one of those policemen who help corrupt cops who conduct crimes avoid justice?
Having a stressful job means you deserve sympathy, but it does not mean you get to abuse your power.
Yes, there is, and some of them are acceptable and some are unacceptable. This was unacceptable.
And before defending these officers, just consider what it's be like to find that pictures of your daughter's dead corpse have become online showpieces and find that.
Or are you already past the point where only other cops are real humans who's needs, feelings and rights need to be considered?
First: I'm not a cop, never been one, don't really want to be one. You wanna know why? Because of all the people in Emergency Services, they work the hardest and face the worst public opinion. It's easy to vilify cops, they do lots of things that people don't agree with. They apply laws to everyone that you think don't really apply to you. I'm too lazy to face that kind of opposition to do good. I'll stick to my home in EMS, where I may work my ass off, nut I'm just be faced with indifference, not hatred (as opposed to firefighters who do nothing and are universally adored.)
Look, as I've previously stated, I don't actually agree with passing the pictures around. I think it was a stupid thing to do, but I don't think it was an immature thing to do, it was a rational thing to do, once you understand the rationale. Dumb, but rational.
There are relatively few people who, despite the fact that they see on a regular basis the worst that people do to each other, get out of bed each day and go out to help everyone, not just the people you agree with, but also the people you despise, simply because they are people.
Speaking as a member of that fraternity, you're damn straight I will speak up in the defense of my brothers (and sisters). I don't support the illegal, and I will join you in railing against it, and I don't even support the dumb, and I will gladly chastise it.
As much as I don't support either of those, I won't stand idly by whilst someone who had no concept of the stresses condemns, blithely assuming that they know better.
Never assume that someone who does this sort of thing doesn't care about their "clients" (for lack of a more encompassing term) as human. If we weren't more aware of the humanity of each and every person in the world than most, we'd go find a job that pays better and demands less.
I needed a sig so people would know who I am, but I was too drunk to make something witty, so you get this instead.
How is this marked as funny? What is wrong with /. moderation? Are you guys morons? Insensitive idiots? The mods should be removing the URL below out of respect for the deceased, and her family. Come on mods, got any balls? Or are you so entrenched in your computers, that human stories mean nothing to you? Yeah, it's probably the latter. I wonder if I reported /. to the FBI, if they'd order a take down. Yeah. I just might do that. That's *my* right.
Dave
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. --Martin Luther King Jr.
There ya go AC - I've reported both /. and your post to the FBI. Hopefully they take down your post, and punish /. for allowing it in spite of the court order, and if they can get your IP address and track you down you gutless prick then even better. Oh, and I'm going to be complaining to the domain registrar and web host as well.
As we say in Australia, what you've done is "lower than a snakes belly".
Have a nice day.
Dave
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. --Martin Luther King Jr.