Slashdot Mirror


Teen Suicide Tormentor Outed By Anonymous

MightyMartian writes "From the CBC: 'The tragic story of B.C. teen suicide victim Amanda Todd has taken another bizarre twist as the internet hacking and activist group Anonymous has named a man the group says was the girl's primary tormentor. Todd, 15, of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, died last Wednesday, a month after posting a haunting video on YouTube that cited the sexualized attack that set her down a path of anxiety, depression and drug and alcohol abuse.' This raises a whole nest of issues surrounding the presumption of innocence and vigilantism. Should the police and the courts be given the appropriate amount of time to determine if there is sufficient evidence, or if a crime has in fact been committed, or is Anonymous right in short-circuiting what might in fact be a lengthy process with no guarantee that anyone will face charges?"

550 comments

  1. For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you're going to try to punish someone for a crime (and make no mistake, naming the man is meant to be a punishment), you'd better make damn sure you get the right person.

    For all the problems of the legal system, it is decent at that -- far from perfect, but probably better than some random anonymice.

    1. Re:For great justice... maybe? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      I guess as long as it's the truth which is being sad that yeah, it suck to be the person feeling under threat, but that person isn't without guilt either so.

      But the system is supposed to handle it and not the people.

    2. Re:For great justice... maybe? by ganjadude · · Score: 3, Insightful

      and who runs the system??? the people!

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    3. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Nutria · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What Anonymous did is no different than -- and just as wrong as -- police parading accused (often not even arraigned) criminals on "perp walks" for the television cameras, and splashing the names and faces of accused rapists across TV, print and radio.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    4. Re:For great justice... maybe? by HiThere · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Given that this is being done by Anonymous, I think it's fairly clear that they don't trust the government. Asking people who don't trust the government to depend on it to provide justice is, well, a bit unreasonable.

      This doesn't mean I think they were right to do what they did. I'm not well enough informed to have an opinion. I *suspect* that they rushed to judgement, without sufficient evidence. OTOH, I've seen little that persuades me that the government is even interested in justice, though they *do* generally prefer that you follow their rules. (Unless it's to their advantage to have something to hang over your head.)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    5. Re:For great justice... maybe? by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      Wait, "just as wrong?" We're holding Anonymous to the same moral standards as the police?

      I suppose it's better than going the other way and holding police to only the standards you hold Anonymous, but still...

    6. Re:For great justice... maybe? by MacGyver2210 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You'd also better make sure you're trying to punish them for a real crime, and the right crime. What this guy did was sleazy, and to an extent illegal, but it was not rape, it was not murder, it was not assisted suicide, it was just plain pedo-bear skeezyness.

      Try the dude for possession of child pornography, try the dude for coercing a minor, do what you have to do. Do NOT try to make this a whole schpiel about "Oh no, cyber bullies!" or try to charge this guy for her death in any way. Even if he is entirely responsible for the picture and its distribution, he did not kill this girl, she chose to take the easy way out and just say "I give up". That's not his fault.

      Showing her tatas online was nobody's choice but her own, and she certainly wasn't 'forced' to do anything of the sort. The most someone on a webcam can do is ask. If you don't want to do it, then don't. End the chat. Call Chris Hanson. Whatever.

      Unfortunately it looks like she couldn't live with the results of her bad decision. I feel zero sympathy for this girl.

      --
      If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits
    7. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Maow · · Score: 1

      From CTV's website:

      The man identified by Anonymous appeared Monday at Surrey provincial court house, where he faces charges of sexual assault and sexual interference with a minor in a case unrelated to Todd.

      ...

      He told CTV News he knew the 15-year-old, but insisted he was her friend. He said he helped identify a man in New York who was harassing her, and claims he passed that information to the RCMP.

      Emphasis added.

      Sounds like a fairly good bet they've got the right guy, but we'll have to wait & see - hopefully it goes to trial.

    8. Re:For great justice... maybe? by aliquis · · Score: 2

      Yeah, the people, not the individual.

    9. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What Anonymous did is no different than -- and just as wrong as -- police parading accused (often not even arraigned) criminals on "perp walks" for the television cameras, and splashing the names and faces of accused rapists across TV, print and radio.

      This is extremely illegal. Which is why there exist censorship boxes and the last name is always shortened to one character.

    10. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm curious, what of all the insecure, stupid young girls who post nude photos to 4chan in an attempt to get a little attention, aren't these all potential targets? 4chan and anon have some considerable crossover, right? who's to blame for the culture.

    11. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      The government isn't interested in justice except as much as is needed to keep the people from rioting. The situation is no different at all from the governments in Medieval times, when there were kings and earls and such. Back then, nobility ruled and controlled all the money, but they also had the responsibility of running the justice system. It was largely a farce, but not completely, they tried to provide some sense of justice even if innocent people were being hanged left and right, but that didn't matter because the people wanted justice, not necessarily correctness. The whole thing was a bargain where the nobility (government) provided a justice system so people could air their grievances, in exchange for the nobility getting to be a bunch of rich bastards and keep their power. It's exactly the same now, just not quite as simple, with a lot more positions in the power hierarchy (DAs, lawyers, etc.).

    12. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      This girl was a child, not an adult. If she was conned into acting against her best wishes by some asshole, I feel no sympathy for this asshole if some anonymous hackers make his life a complete living hell, and I hope they do. Then next time some asshole like this thinks of doing something similar, he'll remember what happened to this shithead and think again.

    13. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Edit: "best wishes" -> "best interests"

    14. Re:For great justice... maybe? by elucido · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Wait, "just as wrong?" We're holding Anonymous to the same moral standards as the police?

      I suppose it's better than going the other way and holding police to only the standards you hold Anonymous, but still...

      They should be held to a higher standard. Their information must be thoroughly checked, verified, confirmed. This is possible through digital signatures but to expect completely Anonymous information to be true without a process for checking how true or how false each piece of information is and how truthful the source is, it's worthless.

    15. Re:For great justice... maybe? by elucido · · Score: 2

      Given that this is being done by Anonymous, I think it's fairly clear that they don't trust the government. Asking people who don't trust the government to depend on it to provide justice is, well, a bit unreasonable.

      This doesn't mean I think they were right to do what they did. I'm not well enough informed to have an opinion. I *suspect* that they rushed to judgement, without sufficient evidence. OTOH, I've seen little that persuades me that the government is even interested in justice, though they *do* generally prefer that you follow their rules. (Unless it's to their advantage to have something to hang over your head.)

      Then they should give people in the private sector and outside the government a way to verify the quality of information, the facts, to rate the source, etc. When you make a purchase on ebay or amazon you see ratings. Reputation even exists on Slashdot but it doesn't exist within Anonymous.

      The only way to make it exist is through digital signatures. Even then we still need professions analyzing the information and doing forensics and we don't know the qualifications of the people in Anonymous.

    16. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, "just as wrong?" We're holding Anonymous to the same moral standards as the police?

      If they are going to try to operate in this fashion, then yes.

    17. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This girl was a child, not an adult.

      No, actually she was an adolescent, not a child.

      conned into acting against her best wishes by some asshole, I feel no sympathy for this asshole if some anonymous hackers make his life a complete living hell

      The point is you don't know if this is the SAME asshole or not, yet you're already calling for blood. What if Anon said they'd figured out who this guy is, and he posts on slashdot under the name "Grishnakh"? Still calling for blood? The point is that the danger of vigilante justice is getting the wrong guy. As of right now, we have just as much proof that you did it as the guy Anon is claiming did it, so be careful what you wish for.

    18. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      False. The individuals who run the system are appointed by the people. Their job is to ensure a better society, regardless of popular opinion.

    19. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > What Anonymous did is no different than -- and just as wrong as -- [...] splashing the names and faces of accused rapists across TV, print and radio.

      That's the only punishment most rapists are ever going to get. Until they start actually convicting rapists in reasonable numbers, I'm going to have a bit more sympathy for the 90% of victims whose attackers go completely unpunished than for the 3 or 4 percent of the accused who aren't guilty.

    20. Re:For great justice... maybe? by dintech · · Score: 2

      Anonymous is the biggest Internet Bully of them all. I think it's great that he gets to feel what that kind of attention feel like.

    21. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it's fairly clear that they don't trust the government.

      I think in this case, it is not to do with the fact they don't trust the government, they have committed this action because the government is powerless or don't have the resources to deal with the various forms of cyber-crimes. Given the sheer volume of activity involved, how can governments deal with this?

    22. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      She was a twelve-year-old girl when she did that. Not even 16 when she died. How can you NOT feel anything for her? Bastard. What runs through your veins? Someday you just might grow up and have a daughter of your own.

    23. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No crime?

      I disagree.
      Stalking is a crime (he tracked her after she changed school and adress).
      Tying to blackmail is a crime (it all started with him threatening to post her foto everywhere if she didn't put on 'a show')
      I don't know if he did the punching but that's a crime too. Especially if you come with a group of people to gang up on someone with the apparent purpose of beating her up ('punch her already')

      So there were crimes that were committed. Which isn't saying that we should take justice in our own hands. On the other hand: all the others that kept on bullying her even after her post didn't wait for the justice system either...

      Conclusion: if you do something online you will be judged pretty quickly. The legal repercussions may seem far of at that moment but they will come anyway...

    24. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Unfortunately it looks like she couldn't live with the results of her bad decision. I feel zero sympathy for this girl.

      The results were far reaching in the bigot society of USA, huge porn industry and an alike bigotry on the side. Additional, there seemed not sufficient emotional support around her, to handle the bullying she received as result of exposure; she went into a vicious cycle and never came out of it. Having zero empathy from her environment brought her to the point to commit suicide . . people like you MacGyver2210 who give a sh*t of others, because it has been their choice and the consequences all along; that's the ultimate rational for zero empathy.

      Applying this logic, it was the jews choice to be jews, they could have all escapes the concentration camps . . .

    25. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would it be the same if she was 6 years old when she decided to expose herself... 8years old? 10? 12? At what age is it OK to convince a child into "showing her tatas"? Clearly you think it is under 18.

      Is it the child's fault for not having the sophistication of an adult to understand the consequences of her actions?

    26. Re:For great justice... maybe? by davydagger · · Score: 1

      good luck.

      Anonymous does more moralfagging than the cops do.

    27. Re:For great justice... maybe? by nitio · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Try the dude for possession of child pornography, try the dude for coercing a minor, do what you have to do. Do NOT try to make this a whole schpiel about "Oh no, cyber bullies!" or try to charge this guy for her death in any way. Even if he is entirely responsible for the picture and its distribution, he did not kill this girl, she chose to take the easy way out and just say "I give up". That's not his fault. Showing her tatas online was nobody's choice but her own, and she certainly wasn't 'forced' to do anything of the sort. The most someone on a webcam can do is ask. If you don't want to do it, then don't. End the chat. Call Chris Hanson. Whatever. Unfortunately it looks like she couldn't live with the results of her bad decision. I feel zero sympathy for this girl.

      All emphasis mine.

      Sigh... let me ask you this: When you were 13 were you this savvy and awesome as you appear to be? Probably not. Kids in their formation years have not been fucked by the rest of world to learn and understand what one action can have as its outcome.

      Was it her decision to show? Oh yes I agree but it was definetely and heavely induced by someone else. If you wanted to gain someones attention would you not do something if asked?

      Have you ever been clinically depressed? Have you ever felt ashamed of yourself to the point where the "easy way out" (did you use your mob face for this phrase?) was the only solution to stop feeling as less than the worst thing you ever faced?

      Spare me the blame the victim act. Yes the person who blackmailed her is responsible for her death. Pushing a person off of the cliff phisically and pushing mentally are the same thing.

      --
      http://stoploudness.org/
    28. Re:For great justice... maybe? by davydagger · · Score: 1

      why would anyone trust the government.

      Especially when this "cyber-bullying" thing tends to be yet another overblown, over-hyped excuse to charge people for things they say on the internet, and even more excuses of setting up surviallence of tracking dissenters on the internet.

      American law enforcement has a long sorid history of protecting the people in power(to from include critism and legitimate protests) first, and settling petty disputes between us "peasants" second, if at all, or mabey it a handful of show trials to keep support for the massive surviallence state.

      Why is it that those new Homeland Security "fusion" centers spend more time spying on people and not targeting any of the terrorists they were promised to?(this was here on slashdot a few weeks ago)

      Why is, when the FBI can't come up with real terrorists, they make some, bust them, and declare victory?(NY times article actually).

      Why was shooting suspect Jared Longer put on massive amounts of mind altering drugs against his will before they let him appear in court? What about auroa shooting suspect Jon Holms?

      What about how the FBI harrasses people think are "undesirables" by making accusations of criminal activity to their friends, family, and co-workers

      What about the police in maine DOX'ing prostituion suspects pre-trial?

      What about in the good state of NJ, when you complain about the police you get "black balled", meaning the cops won't come to protect you, they might even impersonate or tip off the criminal element.

      What about the war on drugs, no police department has made a concetrated effort to really eliminate drugs, but just rile up a few arrests come budget time.

      Does anyone really trust Law Enforcement to be better than Anonymous?

      This is on a forum dedicated to nerds for the same agency that kicks down doors with heavily armored thugs for computer crimes, but handles financial and other business crime with well connected suspects civilly(allowing them to turn themselves in, and ROR most of the time), and jail time is mostly dropped.

      Until the Law Enforcement as a whole, specifically starts treating the mass of computer nerds better than stockbrokers

      Until rule of law is re established.

      Until the police stop setting people up for their convience.

      Until the hackers are treated better than stock brokers, and punishment for cybercrime is brought on line with physical equivilants(or lower, for being non-violent)

      Until the police system replaces fearmongering, stereotypes, and propaganda with real detective skills based on proven science(like you think they have, but are really rare in actuality).

      Until they stop people being thrown in mental "hospitals" because the government cannot convict them in courts.

      Until the cops spends more time going after criminals than dissent. Until they can recognize the diffrence.

      Until the cops stop using the same tatics anonymous does, harrassing people's friends, family, and DOX'ing them,

      Until the police stop acting as a private organization that gets to pick and choose who they protect based on who supports them.

      Until the government stops treating public reasources like a private entity, and gets to pick and choose who gets to use them based on who supports them.

      Until all that, I trust a bunch of kids on the internet over them. At there worse they are never as bad as the cops, or the government.

      Wait, whats that? I'm hiding behind a keyboard on the internet. Damn skippy I am. I don't wanna be mugged tonight because I critiqued the system. I don't wanna be raided by 50 large, well armed and armored men, who believe I am associated with whatever rouge group whatever alphabet soup agency labeled me as in revenge.(Ironicly, it might be Anonymous)

      Your right, I'm not a big guy, I'm not a tought guy at all, I'm not a lawyer. I am not connected to any powerful organization. I am joe average 99%'er. I have natural, god given even, rights that are not b

    29. Re:For great justice... maybe? by TFAFalcon · · Score: 2

      They should each have to live with the consequences of their actions. She decided to show her boobs to him - stupid act, but she was a kid and they do stupid things. Her 'punishment' would have been the discomfort of knowing there are pictures of her out there.

      He should have been prosecuted for the crimes he commited - production of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, probably something like corrupting a minor, extortion, cyber stalking, harassment,...

      And my guess is that she would have felt a lot better about herself if she saw society make sure that the guy who wronged her paid for his acts, rather then letting him continue to harass her.

    30. Re:For great justice... maybe? by a_claudiu · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately it looks like she couldn't live with the results of her bad decision. I feel zero sympathy for this girl.

      Than the punishment is adequate (barely), only a "cyber sentence" angainst a "cyber bully". Let's see how is he living with the result of his decisions.

      There it's more to speak about the age, the impact of accessibility of very easy communication/sharing of feelings on the net for the young persons, education and others but this discussion will never end

      My only problem is to accept the vigilante act or not, and if yes how trusty it is.

    31. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Bootsy+Collins · · Score: 1

      I wish I could mod you up.

    32. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Bootsy+Collins · · Score: 2

      Unfortunately it looks like she couldn't live with the results of her bad decision. I feel zero sympathy for this girl.

      For someone who was tricked into exposing herself when she was 12??!?!

      What a sad, sad person you are.

    33. Re:For great justice... maybe? by thesandtiger · · Score: 1

      It sounds like she had some pretty shitty parents.

      First - and this is by far the least of the mistakes they made - she was clearly not well educated on how to handle herself online when people make demands, yet was let loose online. Her parents should have made sure that she was using the best privacy settings, knew what kinds of people might be out there, and how to shut them down if they start asking for things like flashes.

      Second, when they found out what was going on and how she was freaking out about it, they should have made sure she had therapy. Therapy to teach her how to cope with the fallout, but also therapy to deal with her underlying issues because jesus fucking christ, her actions were not the actions of a well adjusted kid (I don't mean the flashing, I mean how she handled being outed and slut-shamed).

      Third, if none of the therapeutic options worked and she had to move to a different area, as her family did, they should have investigated, I don't know, a name change, or maybe her not going back on Facebook ever again? I mean, the fuck?

      The guy who did this is scum - he's an absolute douchebag and if there's justice in the world he'll get what's coming to him, but he is not responsible for her killing herself, he's responsible for pressuring her, blackmailing her, and attempting to slut-shame her. The other kids in her circle are responsible for bullying her over this. Her parents are responsible for doing a shit job raising her to handle what is, honestly, a fairly mild bout of shaming.

      When I was a teenager I was slut-shamed mercilessly at my high-school because I had *gasp* slept with 2 different guys (neither of whom I was dating but both of whom decided to brag about it), taunted for being a geek, and basically treated like shit by a lot of the kids there just like a lot of people were when they were in high school. The difference for me was that my folks and the adults in my life made it EXTREMELY FUCKING CLEAR that the problem was with the people who were acting like assholes and when I was having a hard time coping they helped me and supported me in ways that made me better able to handle myself. My mom actually would role-play how to deal with people being assholes and my dad taught me how to handle myself physically if it came to that, and a counselor taught me how to keep myself calm when being faced with assholes so that I could put the things my parents taught me to use.

      They also taught me - from a very young age - how to deal with people my age and older who were being creepy, aggressive, pushy, whatever. They figured my being disabused of the notion that there are no bad people out there would be better than my being abused or pressured in this way. It may have made me a bit cynical and a bit wary, but it definitely saved me from several instances where things could have gone very badly very quickly had I not been taught how to be properly wary.

      It absolutely sucks that this girl killed herself, but it sounds like there were so many fucked up things going on in this entire thing that everyone involved should take a very long look at themselves and strive to realize that they basically suck as human beings and need to get better.

      --
      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
    34. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > little that persuades me that the government is even interested in justice

      There are thousands and thousands of courthouses in the U.S.
      There are millions of people arrested, tried and millions put into prison and made to pay retribution.

      It may not be perfect, but it's not "little."

      And this is coming from me, someone who is massively disappointed with the U.S. government and culture. It's not perfect, but you can't say there's "little to persuade you that the government is even interested in justice." Also, the fact that corruption is lower in this country than others is often overlooked. We're not perfect, but man, we are pretty damn good. Enough that you should be convinced we're trying and succeeding. It's significant.

    35. Re:For great justice... maybe? by tehcyder · · Score: 2

      "Perp walks" are a classic example of why absolute freedom of speech is a bad idea, despite the howls of outrage this will provoke amongst the libertarians, right wing extremists and absolutists around here.

      You try saying "sticks and stones" to someone who's been paraded in public as a rapist or paedophile, then released without charges.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    36. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      I disagree. Anon will probably show, publicly, what proof they have. Is it perfect? Surely not. But from what I've seen of the official justice systems, it's no worse. People are constantly being prosecuted and convicted of crimes they didn't commit in the normal system, just because some asshole DA wants to show he's "tough on crime" and because jurors are a bunch of racist morons. Just look at how many people are being released left and right now because DNA evidence exonerates them, but decades later so their lives are mostly over. Why aren't the jurors being punished for their decisions? And why do people assume the governmental justice systems are worth a shit? They're not. I'll trust Anonymous just as much, probably more in fact, than the governmental systems. We can probably expect a bunch of hackers to give far more weight to physical evidence, and not some dipshit's "testimony", than idiot jurors who are swayed by Billy Bob swearing on the Bible that "yeah, that's the guy who did it!".

    37. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Honestly, I have less sympathy for bullies than I do for pedophiles. Bullying requires a conscious effort. Being a pedophile is a mental disorder.

      This dude, if he is the responsible party, can go take a flying fuck off a cliff.

    38. Re:For great justice... maybe? by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Have you paid any attention to what goes on in those courthouses? They are great and expensive legal games played there. I didn't find much justice. (Some, admittedly. Especially in non-controversial cases.)

      If you think that the laws are just, and that having expensive lawyers means you are probably innocent, then you will see justice in those courthouses. If you have a different definition of justice, you might see *some* justice, between people with equal power. But often what you will see won't match justice even under the rules of the laws. Often what you will see is a ritualized form of "forte main" (see Norman law). The word of a police officer is trusted over that of several citizens, even when it is to the officer's advantage to make a statement accusing the prisoner. Sometimes it's more blatant. Often if the officer has killed someone, he doesn't even need to defend himself in court, but only at a closed administrative hearing of the police department. And you don't want me to go on at length about various illegal tactics used by the police, and the lack of repercussions when proven. (And given the nature of these offenses, proof is *probably* infrequently available. No good estimate can be made, however, because such data as is created is hidden. And, naturally, most often no data is kept.)

      I am strongly of the opinion that all police should be required to be wearing a working lifelog (camera + mike) the entire time that they are acting officially. And that when they are acting unofficially, they should not be given any more benefit of the doubt than citizens actually are. (Not what it is claimed they are given. When a guy is shot in the back several times by a police officer who claims he was fleeing the crime, there's not much benefit of the doubt.)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    39. Re:For great justice... maybe? by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 1

      First thing's first: GP is an enormous fuckwit for having no sympathy for someone who hurt no one and is now dead. One should have sympathy for all innocents who have passed away.

      That said, at age 12, she shouldn't have been left unattended in front of a computer. At that age, precisely because they are still in their formative years, the computer should be in a family living room to prevent exactly this kind of fiasco from ever happening.

      But in regards to who is responsible for her commission of suicide, I think the cases of Dharun Ravi and Lori Drew prove that this man was not responsible for her death. It's sad, and had I personally had the chance I would have tried to talk her out of committing suicide, but the fact is she is responsible for taking her own life. You can try the man for stalking, you can try him for harassment, but you can't try him for murder.

      I think more attention needs to be paid to her real-life bullies, though. I would be trying all those little fuckers who assaulted her physically and forced her to change schools. They should pay for their actions and it should be plastered all over the media so the next little fucker who wants to bully someone vulnerable might think twice.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    40. Re:For great justice... maybe? by hand_of_lixue · · Score: 1

      http://www.bustedmugshots.com/oregon/roseburg/kevin-michael-cornell/63869711 Chosen totally at random. Please notice the phrase "ALLEGED violation" They sell this magazine in convenience stores here. Pretty sure it's not the slightest bit illegal, given all that...

    41. Re:For great justice... maybe? by hand_of_lixue · · Score: 1

      I dunno, "absolute" freedom would let us parade the police and politicians as "potential rapists" too. The end result might be a society where "potential rapist" and "accused rapist" lose their "scare factor". The issue isn't the speech, it's the way the masses interpret it.

    42. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What you're saying here is true. Ina perfect world, outing may be fine. But...If the "outer" is incorrect, misguided, or just vengeful, there is little doubt that it would be little less wrong than the actual tormentor's actions.

    43. Re:For great justice... maybe? by randyleepublic · · Score: 1

      You are both wrong! GP is wrong for not having any sympathy. You are wrong for not understanding that pushing someone menatlly and off the cliff are absolutely not the same thing. You silly humans.

      --
      Social Credit would solve everything...
    44. Re:For great justice... maybe? by KingBenny · · Score: 1

      uh i myself in darker times have been more than once stopped and frisked, even hauled of the house without any real proof, neighbours or everyone in the street watching. Last ones to complain about this should be fkun cops that's right.
      skashh... she shows her tits on a webcam? i can get you probably a few thousand links of people doing that.
      not condoning it, not judging it ... where were the parents, why was she afraid to talk to them?
      why are kids so weak they do this over a couple of, well ... breasts ?
      first rule of parenting : your kid can NEVER be scared to talk about anything at all, first thing you need to drill in, most important, never scared about anything. Never scared to come home no matter what happened. If you can't, you don't get a parenting license. That's where it all starts
      yea, the guy is a definite dirtbag, dont get me wrong on that

      --
      Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
    45. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lets privatize law enforcement lets hand it over to Xe aka Blackwater, they already have an intel gathering division. Great idea who needs govt.

    46. Re:For great justice... maybe? by xkpe · · Score: 1

      You should interpret the information provided by anonymous the same way you should interpret any information from any other media source.
      That is, you know what drives them, you know their mindset, you know their previous biases, and you should balance it accordingly.

    47. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'd also better make sure you're trying to punish them for a real crime, and the right crime. What this guy did was sleazy, and to an extent illegal, but it was not rape, it was not murder, it was not assisted suicide, it was just plain pedo-bear skeezyness.

      Try the dude for possession of child pornography, try the dude for coercing a minor, do what you have to do. Do NOT try to make this a whole schpiel about "Oh no, cyber bullies!" or try to charge this guy for her death in any way. Even if he is entirely responsible for the picture and its distribution, he did not kill this girl, she chose to take the easy way out and just say "I give up". That's not his fault.

      Showing her tatas online was nobody's choice but her own, and she certainly wasn't 'forced' to do anything of the sort. The most someone on a webcam can do is ask. If you don't want to do it, then don't. End the chat. Call Chris Hanson. Whatever.

      Unfortunately it looks like she couldn't live with the results of her bad decision. I feel zero sympathy for this girl.

      That's because you are a sociopathic asshole attempting to rationalize a sex starved monkey's actions that caused a young girl to end her very young life. I would keep an eye on you.
      There are consequences to every action. His actions caused a very young teenaged girl to kill herself because she had no one to turn to you error prone rationalizing idiot. That rat bastard is wholly responsible for her death.

    48. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too many people assuming they understand the young girl's anguished state of mind, and pass some lame judgement upon her. You can say things like: fear of peer ridicule, parent's reactions, embarrassment, feelings of hopelessness and depression. But you don't understand that child's mind or what she went through before killing herself. The idiot that caused her death deserves everything coming at him and more when he is in jail.

    49. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was extorting a small child and I believe he deserves to die. Just my own opinion. But tormenting and releasing the images of the girl on the web, the threats. He should diie. Painfully. IMO. Probably a little harher than the punishment it sounds like you think he should get.

    50. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All I can say is I hope you have a daughter.

    51. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Care to tell us the process by which Anonymous obtained their information? What sort of fact checking was involved?

      What's that? You don't know? Ah, so you're just talking out of your ass.

      Also, this "higher standard" is just bullshit. No one should be held to a higher standard of investigative quality than the folks who are actual law enforcement. If a higher standard of investigation exists, law enforcement should be held to it.

       

    52. Re:For great justice... maybe? by bkcallahan · · Score: 1

      Actually I have been. My charges dismissed were on page 6, buried, months later, while my arrest was headlines. DNA didn't even match, came up with a different racial (I'm White, the DNA results indicated "Black").

      There is NO way in HELL I would EVER say they took free speech too far. Not. Even. Close.

      How about the howl of someone who's actually been through that? People with your attitude scare me more than the police.

    53. Re:For great justice... maybe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is information circulating that she did this up to 6 times since she was 12 years old. This was not an isolated incident.

      This girl's mother was a teacher and threw her hands up in the air and basically said she can't stop her because kids have smartphones and Ipads...what kind of response is that ?

      Her parents failed her, she also refused to charge the girls who beat her up in real life which could have scared people off of going after her earlier on.

    54. Re:For great justice... maybe? by elucido · · Score: 1

      Care to tell us the process by which Anonymous obtained their information? What sort of fact checking was involved?

      What's that? You don't know? Ah, so you're just talking out of your ass.

      Also, this "higher standard" is just bullshit. No one should be held to a higher standard of investigative quality than the folks who are actual law enforcement. If a higher standard of investigation exists, law enforcement should be held to it.

      Unless law enforcement is politically corrupt then what?

    55. Re:For great justice... maybe? by elucido · · Score: 1

      You should interpret the information provided by anonymous the same way you should interpret any information from any other media source.
      That is, you know what drives them, you know their mindset, you know their previous biases, and you should balance it accordingly.

      The problem with Anonymous is they aren't very professional. They seem to be run by script kiddies, teenagers and young adults who have technical skills but no organizational skills.

      They ought to do things better. Having a digital signature provides for reputation based accountability and allows us to know which faction of Anon they are.

    56. Re:For great justice... maybe? by xkpe · · Score: 1

      I understand your point, but I never thought of anonymous like that, for me anonymous could be a different set of people every time. A set of people that are trying to expose their beliefs and if enough people agree with them, they will generate momentum. If the traditional media decides to publicize any action done by an individual that calls himself anonymous without any real internet momentum, you should interpret that differently, because it's either uninformed journalism or an attempt to blacken the image of the anonymous movements.

    57. Re:For great justice... maybe? by AbominousSalad · · Score: 1

      "Unfortunately it looks like she couldn't live with the results of her bad decision. I feel zero sympathy for this girl."

      The things I want to say to you in response to the above, aren't illegal. They're not immoral. They're not even wrong.

      The fact that I wish I knew your identity and the identities of your coworkers, family and friends so that I could publish the above statements under your name, definitely is not illegal. Nor, since you have shared the opinions online, would publishing them and breaking your anonymity through investigative work, be illegal.

      Devoting 10 hours a day to broadcasting your comments, identity, likeness, and name to the most torment-sympathetic, off-kilter people the Internet has to offer, preferably targeting an audience within 50 miles of you, just to inform them of the nature of your personality, would not be illegal.

      And hey. I wouldn't be responsible for what happened when they got ahold of you.

      And I really. REALLY would not feel any sympathy after they got ahold of you.

      --
      Every trollism an AC posts is prefixed, in my mind, with "A. Coward whined, in a weak and cowardly voice:"
    58. Re:For great justice... maybe? by AbominousSalad · · Score: 1

      Also.

      What if somebody catches you daydreaming on a freeway overpass someday, puts a megaphone in your ear from behind, and screams "HOLY CRAP LOOK OUT" into your ear when you aren't expecting it, causing you to fall in front of a hauler going 80 miles an hour?

      How's your argument sound then?

      --
      Every trollism an AC posts is prefixed, in my mind, with "A. Coward whined, in a weak and cowardly voice:"
  2. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You forgot to blame Hitler, comic books, rock and roll, D&D, and video games.

  3. Hope he's the right guy by ScooterComputer · · Score: 1

    Hope he's the right guy. If not, even if he is a piece of shit otherwise (and all signs point to "Yes!"), he's about to have to endure a shit storm of epic proportion fall upon him. And that would not be fair...

    If he is the right guy...I will enjoy watching him self-destruct.

    --
    Scott
    "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."
    1. Re:Hope he's the right guy by drosboro · · Score: 0

      Yeah, pretty uneasy about this one. They got the home address wrong... The guy would definitely seem to be a creep ("I was just friends with her.." Really? 30-something guy and 15 year old girl?), but if he's innocent there's gonna be some serious trouble in store for him getting clear of this.

  4. Outing is not the best solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anonymous could have blood on their hands if the outrage becomes a lynch mob. I have no sympathy for the man, but the internet is a kangaroo court.

    1. Re:Outing is not the best solution by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "I have no sympathy for the man, but the internet is a kangaroo court."

      That is an insult to Kangaroos..

      The internet is a unruly mob distracted by the latest shiny.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    2. Re:Outing is not the best solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      like a mob of kangaroos?

    3. Re:Outing is not the best solution by mjwx · · Score: 1

      "I have no sympathy for the man, but the internet is a kangaroo court."

      That is an insult to Kangaroos..

      The internet is a unruly mob distracted by the latest shiny.

      Like a Kangaroo staring into your headlights?

      The biggest difference is I'm not likely to drive my car into a stunned internet.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    4. Re:Outing is not the best solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would Anonymous be responsible for the actions of an ignorant mob?

    5. Re:Outing is not the best solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Internet Justice for the Internet Age, Justice is a Harsh Mistress And You Don't Know Her Name, The Distributed Quickening of The Punishment, Jury, Anonymous et al; the seminal works about the law during internet age.

    6. Re:Outing is not the best solution by Lehk228 · · Score: 2

      >implying anons care

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    7. Re:Outing is not the best solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He pushed someone to kill themselfs on the internet. Now hes got to face the internet. Not nice when people are turned against you. But that is what he did. Find her and told the everyone what she did.

      now someone has found him and told everyone what he did. Seems fair. let the people decide what to do now. Leave him or not.

    8. Re:Outing is not the best solution by Talderas · · Score: 1

      But the Internet is the Cloud! And the Clouds are all up in the air. The Clouds aren't on the ground you will never run into them with your car.

      Now you might run into the Internet when flying a plane but so far it doesn't seem to cause any damage to the plane. I bet you lag is whenever a plane runs into a Cloud! /sarcasm

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    9. Re:Outing is not the best solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shiny??!??!? WHERE??!?! (Sorry, old EQ2 joke...)

    10. Re:Outing is not the best solution by geekoid · · Score: 1

      When someone doesn't understand something, the make fun of it.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    11. Re:Outing is not the best solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A lot of people, when they don't understand something, are proponents of it.

    12. Re:Outing is not the best solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The internet is a unruly mob distracted by the latest shiny.

      That has their limiters turned off.

    13. Re:Outing is not the best solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have sympathy for him if the accusation is false.

  5. Re:It's all tied together by viperidaenz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Excuse me? Since when has religion had much to do with morality? It's about peer influence. The change here is the perceived anonymity of the internet. The belief the is not god has been around long before then belief in any god. I don't know what your quip about Atheism is based on.

  6. Re:It's all tied together by archatheist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Atheism leads to this.

    I'm pretty sure you don't need to believe in God to consider rape and murder unethical, immoral, and just wrong. In fact, plenty of people have pointed out (repeatedly) the fallacy of assuming that one needs God and/or religion to be good, so there is no reason to say more on that topic here. Go forth and Google.

    The culture of consent and contraception, leads to this.

    I'm not sure what the "culture of contraception" is, but I am pretty sure it does not lead to this kind of behavior, either. In fact, I strongly suspect this behavior - in general, minus the Internet - predates the widespread availability of contraception.

    --
    "No sane man will dance." -- Marcus Tullius Cicero
  7. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Child porn (aka the picture of Amanda's breasts) is a felony. Her death was caused by that felony. Does that make it felony murder? (Yes, I know - she was Canadian and the laws aren't the same in Canada...)

  8. Re:It's all tied together by TehCable · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Atheism leads to this.

    What does Atheism have to do with any of this? Because I don't believe there's an invisible man in the sky means I don't have any morals?

  9. this is intolerable by rritterson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If Anonymous has material evidence that points to the guilt of a particular individual, they should turn that evidence over to the responsible law enforcement agency, not go public and taint both the investigation and public opinion. The detectives may have had the opportunity to seize evidence before the person knew he was under suspicion, or set up a sting operation. They'd also have the chance to clear the individual if he's innocent without the mess of threats of violence I presume this guy is now going to get.

    Presuming this person is eventually charged and tried, Anonymous releasing this information can complicate the job of the prosecutor, having the opposite effect intended.

    On the other hand, if this person is innocent, Anonymous just released a shitstorm on this poor guy that's going to be nearly impossible to get rid of until the police charge someone else.

    I don't see any situations where Anonymous' action result in a more positive outcome than would have come about through other choices.

    --
    -Ryan
    AUWYHSTOT (Acronyms are Useless When You Have to Spell Them Out Too)
    1. Re:this is intolerable by vux984 · · Score: 0

      I don't see any situations where Anonymous' action result in a more positive outcome than would have come about through other choices.

      How about the situation where the crime would have been ignored and forgotten if they hadn't done what they did?

      Going public is a time honored method to get those that enforce the law to pay attention to a particular crime or injustice.

      That said, I agree with you that forwarding evidence to the police first is probably generally the best course of action.

    2. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If Anonymous has material evidence that points to the guilt of a particular individual, they should turn that evidence over to the responsible law enforcement agency, not go public and taint both the investigation and public opinion. The detectives may have had the opportunity to seize evidence before the person knew he was under suspicion, or set up a sting operation. They'd also have the chance to clear the individual if he's innocent without the mess of threats of violence I presume this guy is now going to get.

      Presuming this person is eventually charged and tried, Anonymous releasing this information can complicate the job of the prosecutor, having the opposite effect intended.

      On the other hand, if this person is innocent, Anonymous just released a shitstorm on this poor guy that's going to be nearly impossible to get rid of until the police charge someone else.

      I don't see any situations where Anonymous' action result in a more positive outcome than would have come about through other choices.

      If they have incontrovertible proof that this is the right guy - THEN FUCK HIM UP THE ASS WITH A TELEPHONE POLE TIL HE BLEEDS OUT HIS EYEBALLS

      I have no sympathy for those that prey on children. None.

      That being said, if member of Anonymous broke the law to nail this guy, then they also deserve whatever punishment is prescribed for their transgressions.

    3. Re:this is intolerable by gnoshi · · Score: 1

      If Anonymous has material evidence that points to the guilt of a particular individual, they should turn that evidence over to the responsible law enforcement agency, not go public and taint both the investigation and public opinion. The detectives may have had the opportunity to seize evidence before the person knew he was under suspicion, or set up a sting operation.

      I absolutely agree with this, particularly since I don't imagine the 'evidence' gathered by Anonymous would be admissible in court. If this is the case, then police would need to be able to gather their own evidence in order to prosecute.
      In addition, if the actions of Anonymous make it possible for the man to claim he is unable to receive a fair trial due to jury prejudice (if indeed he is charged) then they will have just ruined an opportunity to see if the legal system can deal with cases like this appropriately. An example of the system handling this type of case well could have encouraged others to come forward in future.

      If the police fail to act in a way which satisfies 'Anonymous', it isn't like they are cut off from releasing the information themselves anyway.

    4. Re:this is intolerable by Sarten-X · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't see any situations where Anonymous' action result in a more positive outcome than would have come about through other choices.

      The folks who identify themselves as Anonymous don't care. If they cut off income for thousands of merchants just to send a message to MasterCard, they call it a victory.

      The actions of Anonymous aren't based in righteous concern for society. Rather, they're displays of overwhelming power trumping society's established systems, with a thin veneer of altruism to stave off any guilt.

      Anonymous members aren't educated in ethics. They don't have any consequences for destroying someone's life. Anonymous enjoys the power of crowdsourced intelligence and abilities, without the responsibility that comes from actually caring for everyone fairly. An appropriate analogy is a newly-empowered dictator. He enjoys the support of the people because he's popular, and now he can kill anyone he wants for the good of the country.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    5. Re:this is intolerable by RoknrolZombie · · Score: 1

      Anonymous members aren't educated in ethics.

      I agree with your sentiment, but this here ^ - yeah, bank CEOs and politicians ARE educated in ethics, kind of a requirement for all of the education that they need. Has that made their respective industries more ethical, do you think?

    6. Re:this is intolerable by houghi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How about the situation where the crime would have been ignored and forgotten if they hadn't done what they did?

      Having a justice system that fails sometimes is better then no justice system at all.
      Yes, mistakes will be made. Yes, guilty people will be set free or never be charged. A small price to pay (even if that means some people die) then to have no system at all.

      Letting Anonymous be the judge and jury means having no system at all. Telling a person is guilty without due process is not a good thing, no matter how you look at it.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    7. Re:this is intolerable by sumdumass · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How about the situation where the crime would have been ignored and forgotten if they hadn't done what they did?

      How about the situation where a prosecution cannot be successful now. A clear line of defense is- all your evidence was planted by a group of hackers upset because I made an indecent comment about them or the recently deceased. We already know they "hacked" into things to get the information and make their declarations. I'm betting that most all evidence against him outside of a confession could be tossed aside as not reliable now. No one from anonymous would be likely to come out and admit it was them and ensure the evidence is legit.

    8. Re:this is intolerable by Spaseboy · · Score: 2

      Anonymous is not one person, nor a group in one country. Let's be realistic here. Expecting a citizen of one country to know, follow and respect the laws of another country simply because you think that's the "right thing" is asinine at best.

      --
      "I don't want more choice, I just want nicer things!"
      -Jennifer Saunders as Edina Monsoon
    9. Re:this is intolerable by Spaseboy · · Score: 1

      "The system" is not some magical entity with all the right answers or outcome. It lets people off that are guilty and convicts people who are innocent. Justice is not arbitrary, that's why laws are different in every country, state and city and also why they change so often. If you are looking for "justice" as opposed to "procedure" than you have to admit that Anonymous has just as much chance at justice as the system.

      --
      "I don't want more choice, I just want nicer things!"
      -Jennifer Saunders as Edina Monsoon
    10. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Having a justice system that fails sometimes is better then no justice system at all.

      I disagree. I'd rather be required to defend myself from random evil-doers than having to defend myself against an entire government of them.

    11. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The folks who identify themselves as Anonymous don't care. If they cut off income for thousands of merchants just to send a message to MasterCard, they call it a victory.

      Of course they do. If the intent is to punish MasterCard then anyone who uses MasterCards services is actively working against you. I doubt that anyone who are calling themselves Anonymous at such a time would even consider those merchants collateral damage, they are just as much the target as MasterCard are.
      The same reasoning is used when going after terrorists. If you manage to damage anyone supporting terrorists while you are at it you call it a win, heck you even go out of your way to do it if you get the opportunity.
      If you find yourself using the services of someone who does questionable things then don't be surprised if someone consider you to be sketchy too.

    12. Re:this is intolerable by bug1 · · Score: 1

      **** HIM UP THE *** WITH A TELEPHONE POLE TIL HE BLEEDS OUT HIS EYEBALLS

      (edited by me)

      So here we have the problem, this "Anonymous Coward" is ready to form a cyber lynchmod against this single cyberbully. To get some revenge for a tragic loss for people he doesnt even know, maybe evne push this allegedy bully over the edge.

      Dont blame this kid that has been outed, yet.
      Dont blame anonymous for not being the police.
      Dont be the police.
      Dont be the judge.

      Let the legal system do its job, the yare experts, you are not.
      When all is said and done them you get your turn.
      Until then, your all part of the problem.

    13. Re:this is intolerable by Spaseboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      From Wikipedia:
      "The French Revolution (French: Révolution française; 1789–1799), was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France that had a major impact on France and throughout the rest of Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation, as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from radical left-wing political groups, masses on the streets, and peasants in the countryside. Old ideas about tradition and hierarchy – of monarchy, aristocracy, and religious authority – were abruptly overthrown by new Enlightenment principles of equality, citizenship and inalienable rights."

      Now, do you think that the upheaval of the aristocracy was sugar cookies and lemonade for the economy of France? What about all the merchants employed by the Aristocracy? How evil of those revolutionaries to do such a thing to the Aristocracy because it affected merchants!

      --
      "I don't want more choice, I just want nicer things!"
      -Jennifer Saunders as Edina Monsoon
    14. Re:this is intolerable by timeOday · · Score: 2

      How about the situation where the crime would have been ignored and forgotten if they hadn't done what they did?

      Because society is so accepting of child sexual abuse? According to the story the police have two dozen investigators assigned to this case!

    15. Re:this is intolerable by v1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If Anonymous has material evidence that points to the guilt of a particular individual, they should turn that evidence over to the responsible law enforcement agency

      Problem there is that evidence was (considering the source) almost certainly obtained through illegal action. (hacking) This cause three immediate problems. 1. most legal systems spoil evidence that has been obtained through illegal actions, 2. it may make assembling an unspoiled jury (that has not been exposed to the tainted evidence) difficult, and 3. it may make the same evidence, obtained through legal means, more difficult or impossible to bring to court.

      The laws concerning spoilage of evidence are made to protect the innocent, but are most frequently called upon to protect the guilty. That's the unfortunate part of it. To protect the 1% of the innocent, the 99% of the guilty must go free. Love it or hate it? You'll probably hate it, until you're the 1%.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    16. Re:this is intolerable by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      The actions of Anonymous aren't based in righteous concern for society. Rather, they're displays of overwhelming power trumping society's established systems, with a thin veneer of altruism to stave off any guilt.

      Anonymous members aren't educated in ethics. They don't have any consequences for destroying someone's life. Anonymous enjoys the power of crowd-sourced intelligence and abilities, without the responsibility that comes from actually caring for everyone fairly.

      Nice knowing you. :-)
      [ Though, that would actually demonstrate your point quite neatly... ]

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    17. Re:this is intolerable by History's+Coming+To · · Score: 1

      Playing devil's advocate here:

      If they handed the information over to the authorities, and presuming the guy did everything he's being accused of, then he would probably face a civilized court case, maybe be convicted, depending on the funding available to him, and probably serve a few months or years before being released into a new identity. I can understand why some would consider this to be insufficient punishment, so we're seeing a short-term terror campaign instead. IF they're right then I can't help but feel a little sympathetic to the principle, however it is both likely illegal, likely to prejudice legal process and could very conceivably lead to a greater crime (mob lynching etc) taking place.

      --
      Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
    18. Re:this is intolerable by sconeu · · Score: 4, Funny

      bank CEOs and politicians ARE educated in ethics,

      So that they will know how to avoid that ethical behavior when they are in office.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    19. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I disagree. I'd rather be required to defend myself from random evil-doers than having to defend myself against an entire government of them.

      What about a throng non-random "do-gooders" who are convinced you are guilty of a crime after their own amateur "investigation"? Should you be required to defend yourself against them? Do you think a counter-mob is going to form to proclaim your innocence?

      We've been there before. It wasn't pretty and we shouldn't go back.

    20. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > concern for society

      I'd really love it if people would stop talking about society as if it was a thing with a pulse. There's nothing "good for society" or "bad for society". There's just you pushing your values onto everyone else "with a thin veneer of altruism to stave off any guilt."

    21. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Having a justice system that fails sometimes is better then no justice system at all.

      I disagree. I'd rather be required to defend myself from random evil-doers than having to defend myself against an entire government of them.

      Insert obligatory Somalia reference here.

    22. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If Anonymous has material evidence that points to the guilt of a particular individual, they should turn that evidence over to the responsible law enforcement agency, not go public and taint both the investigation and public opinion. The detectives may have had the opportunity to seize evidence before the person knew he was under suspicion, or set up a sting operation. They'd also have the chance to clear the individual if he's innocent without the mess of threats of violence I presume this guy is now going to get.

      Presuming this person is eventually charged and tried, Anonymous releasing this information can complicate the job of the prosecutor, having the opposite effect intended.

      On the other hand, if this person is innocent, Anonymous just released a shitstorm on this poor guy that's going to be nearly impossible to get rid of until the police charge someone else.

      I don't see any situations where Anonymous' action result in a more positive outcome than would have come about through other choices.

      Anonymous is a rogue organization who are out "for the lulz" really a bunch of technically skilled anarchists and Occu-poopers. They have no right to do these things yet they corrupt.

    23. Re:this is intolerable by Hatta · · Score: 1

      An appropriate analogy is a newly-empowered dictator

      That's not really an appropriate analogy. Anonymous at least has to convince many people to participate. They are still arbitrary and capricious, but necessarily less selfish. Anonymous is no one's personal army, and that's a good thing.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    24. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > If Anonymous has material evidence that points to the guilt of a particular individual

      They dont. None at all in fact.

      What they have is a username that is associated with someone who cams with "teens." And that that username is used by someone in a suburb on the opposite side of the city. There is absolutely nothing that connects the username with Todd except for being in the same metro area.

    25. Re:this is intolerable by Kaenneth · · Score: 2

      A better comparison for Anonymous is a large Corporation.

      Large group of individuals acting for common interests with a lack of personal accountability and moral restraint.

    26. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your argument would have been much better if the American justice system wasn't rotten to the bone. The USA, where innocent people are executed. The USA, were you are named, damaged, fired, career destroyed, even if later proven innocent by the court. The USA, were people die in illegal prisons without any charge made in years. The USA, were the one with the most money will win. If I had to choose, I'd rather by tried by anonymous, than by the American "justice" system.

    27. Re:this is intolerable by tnk1 · · Score: 2

      I don't think Anonymous would come even close to the justice rate of even a mediocre justice system. It's like saying that being a little wrong is the same thing as being a lot wrong. There is a reason there is procedure. Anonymous probably didn't even know how the girl died before they tracked this person down, let alone all of the circumstances.

      If you believe everything the news tells you, you get a lot of things wrong. People used to get lynched based on little more than what was reported, which until time goes by, is actually nothing more than rumor and extrapolation based on the small amount of information that news outlets get.

      I am glad that Anonymous found this person, but I would have been happier if they turned their evidence over to the police. If they got the wrong person, or things didn't go down quite the way they think they did, they could well be just adding yet another person to the list of those harassed by anonymous individuals.

    28. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The folks who identify themselves as The Government don't care. If they cut off income for thousands of merchants just to send a message to MasterCard, they call it a victory.

      The actions of The Government aren't based in righteous concern for society. Rather, they're displays of overwhelming power trumping society's established systems, with a thin veneer of altruism to stave off any guilt.

      The Government aren't educated in ethics. They don't have any consequences for destroying someone's life.

      There, fixed that for you.

    29. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There are many in anonymous who'd say the same things about your 'established systems.' The fact anonymous exists suggests the establishment isn't doing what it's supposed to sufficiently.

    30. Re:this is intolerable by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

      Fails "sometimes"? LOL
      Even if they had solid, indisputable evidence... even if he admitted it... he would still probably get parole at best. Get caught with a couple of pounds of pot and he'd be in for longer than most murders are. That's justice in our world today.

    31. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I don't see any situations where Anonymous' action result in a more positive outcome than would have come about through other choices.

      How about the situation where the crime would have been ignored and forgotten if they hadn't done what they did?

      Going public is a time honored method to get those that enforce the law to pay attention to a particular crime or injustice.

      That said, I agree with you that forwarding evidence to the police first is probably generally the best course of action.

      I'm against bullying. I think it needs to be taken more seriously by everyone involved to protect kids who shouldn't have to tolerate something nobody else would ever tolerate. That said, there is a clear intent by this supposed "anti-bully movement" that has nothing to do with bullying. They want to criminalize words. They want to criminalize being verbally mean. They want to strip away internet privacy and anonymity. All of this under the guise of "think of the children!".

      They would capitalize on Anonymous revealing information about a person who is SUPPOSEDLY guilty of something here by labeling THAT as harassment and bullying, too. (Because the only people who are allowed to be bullies are the anti-bullying lobbies themselves). This just backfires on those of us who, while we are sickened by bullying, are also sickened by restrictions that accomplish nothing but are in the name of stopping bullying.

      Anyway . . . assuming any of this is real. The whole Amanda Todd presentation video and coverage strikes me as a sick staged viral video by any number of anti-internet-privacy lobbies that know "OMG TEH CHILDRENZ" will make us sit up, over-react, and stomp all over our rights. It's not like that hasn't been done before, in other areas and it's not like the media reporting on these things do actual fact checking, to make sure it's not all part of some sick manipulative effort to ultimately drive policies against the interest of the public under the premise that it *is* in their interest.

      However, assuming it's real -- because people are just vile enough for it to be -- we have to ask a few questions:

      Where were her teachers and the school administrators? I was in school not too long ago. The 90s. Teachers just didn't give a fuck. They looked the other way and didn't get involved. Kids fighting? A kid getting brutally picked on? A kid getting brutally *attacked*? Not their problem. Look the other way and move along to the teacher's lounge.

      Where were the parents? You have to take your kids being harassed far more seriously. I'm not talking about blaming the parents for letting a twelve year old have un-monitored internet access and a web-cam. I'm talking about -- when your kid is being harassed in school, it shouldn't be taken as "kids will be kids" or "it builds character". This is shit you wouldn't tolerate in the work-place. Or any other place, if it were adults. Even prisons wouldn't tolerate this. But in schools, we just shrug and say "gosh, don't be such pussies -- I got picked on and I turned out okay". As if a place of education and knowledge is supposed to accept the things that go on there, every day. I knew kids, when I was in school, that would simply *not go to school*. They wanted to, but the fear of dealing with the constant harassment was so much that their stomach was in knots every morning and they were in tears half the time and would just not come. And no adults ever did shit. That is just completely fucked up. On the other hand, when parents advocate that something be done for their kid, the school system often makes it impossibly difficult for anything to happen and to make sure that, as a result, the harassment doesn't become worse to punish the kid for "telling".

      Also, along the "where were the parents" thing. Their solution was to send the kid off to other family and put them on anti-depressants? You mean, the same anti-depressants that usually list dangerous side-effects for young people, like "SUICIDAL TENDENCI

    32. Re:this is intolerable by jythie · · Score: 1

      With the irony being that much of anonymous cut its teeth on just this kind of tormenting... they might jump on a nice public event like the youtube video to call them to action, but it is just slightly more socially acceptable outlet for their trolly sadism. They will be right back to bullying teenage girls themselves tomorrow, or anyone else they think they can get a laugh out of.

    33. Re:this is intolerable by mjwx · · Score: 1, Informative

      From Wikipedia:
      "The French Revolution (French: Révolution française; 1789–1799), was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France that had a major impact on France and throughout the rest of Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation, as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from radical left-wing political groups, masses on the streets, and peasants in the countryside. Old ideas about tradition and hierarchy – of monarchy, aristocracy, and religious authority – were abruptly overthrown by new Enlightenment principles of equality, citizenship and inalienable rights."

      Now, do you think that the upheaval of the aristocracy was sugar cookies and lemonade for the economy of France? What about all the merchants employed by the Aristocracy? How evil of those revolutionaries to do such a thing to the Aristocracy because it affected merchants!

      The French revolutions resulted in the absolute monarch being replaced by an absolute despot (Napoleon). It took a representative monarch (Britain) to fix it... Twice because the bloody French let the bastard out of Elba.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    34. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I feel safe in assuming Anonymous are well aware their actions may result in it being impossible to prosecute this person legally, whether what has been alleged is true or not, whether or not a crime has or hasn't in fact been committed. I feel safe further assuming, (despite the inherent dangers of making someone look like an ass,) that Anonymous doesn't care about this, since they have more than likely assumed that no prosecution will take place, or that it is highly likely, perhaps even a certainty, that justice (as they see it,) will fail to be done, either through legal trickery, digital trickery, or just the general incompetence of prosecutors. Anonymous can't have a very high opinion of them, since if they had their way, Anonymous' members would all be in jail themselves.

      I wonder though, why Anonymous hasn't also done something to Amanda Todd's parent(s), whose duty it was to ensure what happened, didn't. Where, I wonder, was/were he/she/they? When my kids are old enough, they'll have internet access. They will also be permitted to date, vote, drive, and enlist in the armed services, without my approval. I've seen the internet, and have concluded they're not missing anything by being kept away from the place. They don't need to be playing around in a series of tubes anymore than they need to be playing around in the middle of a busy freeway.

      Taking all this together, I think what they've probably done is gone and side-stepped "The System" altogether, and placed this directly in the court of public opinion, with the cyber world, or the real one, or both, as judge, jury, and executioner. I guess it kind of underscores the idea that if you are not yourself anonymous, and you behave like an asshole online, just as in the real world, there are consequences. Yes, that's right... if you die in the Matrix... you die in real life. (As absurd as that idea was... it helped make the movie really cool. Think how different it would have been if you could just respawn in the Matrix... would explain Jehovah's Witnesses, though...) Wonder if they're going to take to doing this on a regular basis, or just exceptional cases. I don't suppose Anonymous would care to take on those guys what shot up that poor girl in Afghanistan, or wherever, for going to school and speaking out against the Taliban, would they? 'Cause that'd be awesome!

    35. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually no. I don't think so. The current system is so badly broken it needs to die a horrible death and possibly be replaced by something after some time of chaos.

    36. Re:this is intolerable by Maow · · Score: 1

      If Anonymous has material evidence that points to the guilt of a particular individual, they should turn that evidence over to the responsible law enforcement agency, not go public and taint both the investigation and public opinion.

      From CTV's website:

      “We generally don’t like to deal with police first hand but were compelled to put our skills to good use protecting kids,” it read. “Ironically we have some good people in Vancouver who brought this to our admin’s attention. It’s a very sad story that affects all of us.”

      It sounds like they did send it to police ("were compelled to").

      Also, while neither of us is judge or jury, there is this:

      The man identified by Anonymous appeared Monday at Surrey provincial court house, where he faces charges of sexual assault and sexual interference with a minor in a case unrelated to Todd.

      He told CTV News he knew the 15-year-old, but insisted he was her friend. He said he helped identify a man in New York who was harassing her, and claims he passed that information to the RCMP.

    37. Re:this is intolerable by MtHuurne · · Score: 1

      The actions of Anonymous aren't based in righteous concern for society. Rather, they're displays of overwhelming power trumping society's established systems, with a thin veneer of altruism to stave off any guilt.

      I think many people feel unrepresented by the established systems. A lot of systems have been subverted by companies and organizations to work in their advantage and the systems that do serve the public are often very slow. So they look for alternative ways to exert influence. I don't agree with their methods, but I do understand some of the underlying frustration.

      Of course, once they have tasted power, it can become addictive. So it's quite possible that some actions are motivated by the desire to feel powerful, but that's not where it started from.

    38. Re:this is intolerable by Maow · · Score: 1

      How about the situation where the crime would have been ignored and forgotten if they hadn't done what they did?

      How about the situation where a prosecution cannot be successful now. A clear line of defense is- all your evidence was planted by a group of hackers upset because I made an indecent comment about them or the recently deceased. We already know they "hacked" into things to get the information and make their declarations. I'm betting that most all evidence against him outside of a confession could be tossed aside as not reliable now. No one from anonymous would be likely to come out and admit it was them and ensure the evidence is legit.

      Unlikely. He can argue that Anonymous inserted his IP address into Facebook's log files, for example, but neither a judge nor a jury is likely to believe it. And Facebook (again as an example) would have someone highly qualified to testify against the possibility.

      Also, police can find other ways to tie him to it (if it's him): log files, tips, etc. They likely can easily get around the fact that Anonymous outed him.

    39. Re:this is intolerable by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      A jury probably wouldn't even see the evidence in the first place. This would be hammered out before anything was actually in trial (unless Canada does things extremely different). But ensuring the integrity of the evidence is key to using it.

      As for the log files, hackers manipulate them to hide their access. Unless face book (or whoever) has a detailed log of all the activity and commands the anonymous hacker did while in the system. This is unlikely seeing how this type of logging is generally reserves for FEC and SOX regulated enterprises. I'm pretty sure that most of the evidence could be tossed out before it even gets presented. and if other evidence is gained from poisoned evidence, there is a good chance it will be bared too (unless Canada doesn't do the poisoned fruit thing).

    40. Re:this is intolerable by Maow · · Score: 1

      Police: Let's have a look at her computer and see where she had accounts.

      Police: Hey Facebook et al: give us the logs of everyone that contacted her, especially user123 and userXYZ that we saw requested her to do [$naughty_thing].

      Facebook et al: Okay, here you go.

      Police: Hi Crown Prosecutor (i.e. DA): here's IP addresses, user info for users a, b, & c. We think b & c look suspicious but only c is in Canada, and inside your jurisdiction. Warrant please?

      Crown: Okay, here you go.

      Police: Serve warrant, gather further evidence (likely a fair bit that would be of interest to the FBI too!), back to Crown: here's the evidence.

      Crown: looks at evidence, draws up charges, goes to trial.

      Defense: Innocent! Anonymous inserted my client's IP into the logs of Facebook, abc.com, xyz.com, and all those other sites where a user with the user name [$my_clients_firstname]1234 logged in from an IP given to him by ISP [$some_ISP]. Anonymous, um, sat outside his house and created these accounts through Wifi hacking, over the course of years. Um, yeah!

      Judge / jury: "Guilty, unanimous"

      Easy to get around Anonymous' leaks.

    41. Re:this is intolerable by Maow · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure that most of the evidence could be tossed out before it even gets presented. and if other evidence is gained from poisoned evidence, there is a good chance it will be bared too (unless Canada doesn't do the poisoned fruit thing).

      We do have the "poisoned fruit" concept, though not called that to my (limited) knowledge.

      I seem to recall a case where dubiously obtained evidence was admitted due to the heinous nature of the crime (remember no other details).

      I do remember a BC case where a guy was caught with kilos of marijuana in his trunk. His defense was that he supplies a "compassion club" and may have even had a license to grow (forget that part). Judge said.
      "not guilty," and "give him back his pot". (!)

      Regardless, outing him may allow him to destroy evidence that he has control over (assuming Anonymous didn't tip the police days before going public), however just because his name was publicized doesn't mean that there won't be many other avenues available to obtain evidence enough for a conviction. That should apply to USA too.

      Sorry for a double-reply, just meant to point out that the concept isn't uniquely American...

    42. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Keep on reading, the most interesting part about the revolution is how it ended in dictatorship.

    43. Re:this is intolerable by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      Actually, it would be more like this

      Defense: Your honor, that evidence is tainted, a hacker group calling itself anonymous has infiltrated the systems in question and had their way with them. They first brought this evidence to light and blamed my client. It should be bared from entry unless the prosecution can prove it was not tampered with by this hacking group in order to make my client appear guilty.

      Judge: Well, can you guarantee the soundness, legitimacy and/or legality of this evidence?

      Prosecutor: No your honor, the windows XP computer the victim used does not log the actions of hackers and according to our techs had spyware and Trojans installed on it. It is unlikely this led to unauthorized access but because of the lack of logging, we do not know for sure. The website's logs of Facebook, abc.com, xyz.com doesn't show signs of tampering but they do not validate them on a regular basis so no we cannot verify them either. Further more, we found the defendant's computer was loaded with nasties also. and being a windows machine, we are in the same boat.

      Judge: You can forget using the evidence then.

      Jury: what makes you think he did what again?

    44. Re:this is intolerable by Darby · · Score: 0

      If Anonymous has material evidence that points to the guilt of a particular individual, they should turn that evidence over to the responsible law enforcement agency,

      Ahh, there's the flaw in your argument.
      "Responsible" law enforcement does not exist.

      Laws are written for those who pay the writers. Courts are owned by the same. Cops, or law enforcers, are the scum licking the boots of those paying to fuck the world in their interests.

      Welcome to the modern world. What is it, 500BCE yet, or what?
      Seriously, idealism is great, but it's not in any way relevant and your support of it while nice is a disastrously naive attitude.

      Shit don't work that way.

       

    45. Re:this is intolerable by Fjandr · · Score: 1

      I think it's dependent entirely on the particular definition of "sometimes."

      The statement can be broadly interpreted, and there are cases it would apply to where I would agree with the sentiment, and cases it would apply where I wouldn't.

      That's why lawyers are as rampant as they are, because language is so bloody ambiguous sometimes.

    46. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The son of one of my friends was being bullied in elementary school by a another kid who was 50% bigger. It took a while for him to tell me some of the details, but I gathered that the school principal's action were based on the idea that if there is any fighting between kids, they are both equally at fault. If there was going to be any punishment both kids would be punished. He took his son out of public school and put him in a Catholic School. Pasadena, CA., 4-5 year ago.
      ---
      Me, 20 years ago, in Hollywood CA, I saw a girl, maybe 12, 100 lbs, stalking and beating a boy, maybe 9, 65 pounds. This was across the street from a school. She said a few times, "Your father broke my father's arm." The girl had several kids behind her. I observed and was just at the point when another adult intervened, a man, say 65, 120 lbs. The girl started pushing against him to get at the boy.

      I am not proud of the fact that I did not get involved. I was concerned about the legal issues of getting into a fight with a 12 year old girl. Very concerned. I can't remember, but I may have called the police, or someone else did. More adults were coming out of stores so the incident was getting stopped. One thing that slowed me down was that I studied martial arts for many years. I was applying the "Don't use it until it's a last resort" concept. I was also afraid that I would get in the fray, and use some slap or technique that I knew would be very effective, but with a low risk of causing any injury lasting more than one to two days. I did not want to try to explain the difference to a jury.
      Yes, if I could do it all over again, the girl would be incapacitated as I drove away. I gotta cover up my license plates.
         

    47. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doing an action is not equal to being morally or criminally responsible. So, having "incontrovertable proof" that someone did the action is part one. But what if the person is mentally insane, incompentent, or whatever. Yes, I know we've all heard that too many times, and every slimeball wants to jump on that bandwagon. But there are people with real mental disabilities or issues.
      What if Joe Scum bullies an innocent little girl who kills herself. The new poster child of innocent little girls. Anonymous outs them. Joe Scum is lynched. On autopsy they find a brain tumor the size of a golf ball or a testicular tumor pouring 10 times the amount of testosterone or an adrenal gland tumor wrecking other havoc, or late syphilis which affects the brain, or his wife was spiking his eggs with something. Based on true stories....

    48. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be fair the prosecutor can sign an affidavit stating that he does not know where the evidence came from. Then it is up to the judge to admit the evidence in question as admissible or not. Also releasing the information over to authorities could offer them reasonable suspicion to investigate that person of interest and possibly develop a legitimate case.

    49. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      most legal systems spoil evidence that has been obtained through illegal actions

      Really, I'm aware only of the American legal system that does that.

      But the American legal system is more of a sport than a justice system. There's no judge, no discovery of truth. There's just the rules of the game overseen by an umpire. Even the underdog wins if they play with skill.

    50. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hi police i am part of anonymous. Can i give you this evidence...

      How one of 2 things will happen.

      they will spend all there time questioning the person trying to track down Anon
      Or
      Thank him and arrest the person he told them about.

      How what do you think will make the news more.

    51. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When did they cut off the income of thousands of merchants just to send a message to MasterCard? You don't take down the master card network by ddos'ing their website.

    52. Re:this is intolerable by Maow · · Score: 1

      The website's logs of Facebook, abc.com, xyz.com doesn't show signs of tampering but they do not validate them on a regular basis so no we cannot verify them either. Further more, we found the defendant's computer was loaded with nasties also. and being a windows machine, we are in the same boat.

      Judge: You can forget using the evidence then.

      Jury: what makes you think he did what again?

      It just doesn't work like that.

      a) it is not (IMHO) a reasonable doubt raised when claiming Facebook, Hotmail, etc. were all hacked to implicate a then-unknown guy who admits he knew the kid (let's see how many messages she sent him to his real accounts), and has a history of sexual offences against minors. If company xyz has their data is backed up to tape or across multiple data centres, it's going to be very hard to argue it was tampered with. Several of the jury members would probably use social media themselves, possibly the judge too, so they might trust it to some point already.

      b) evidence that was obtained illegitimately cannot be used, but if that same info can be obtained through other channels, especially ones that police would be expected to follow, then it's in.

      I just cannot see how this would work against prosecution unless he's destroyed evidence on his own computer. But while there might have been some, there's bound to be plenty more elsewhere.

      Neither a judge nor jury is going to buy everything the defense throws at them. Malware on her computer will have nothing to do with anything.

    53. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What an arrogant prick you are, let me guess, first year Philosophy student?

      The alternative isn't "no justice system at all" you stupid git, it's getting law enforcement to work on the case.

      Just hope you never have children that are molested by some low life, or someone murders a loved one and law enforcement puts the case on the back burner.

    54. Re:this is intolerable by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      It is doubtful that a jury would ever see the evidence. second, a judge wouldn't be seeing it outside of determining the legitimacy of it.

      Ok, the logs being backed up. This is good and all if they get them before they are rotated out. I usually keep a 1 year backup, 6, 3 and 1 month backup, And a rotating 14 day backup. If their schedule is anything like mine, the events in question will likely not be on the 1 year or the 6 month, Maybe on the 3 or 1 month, definitely on the 14 day rotating, but then again, we have a group of hackers who without permission, accessed the servers, files and logs in question, did whatever they wanted to unauthorized, used them to identify someone specific, then went around bragging about it while naming a specific person that everyone should blame. Even If the time span is such that there is a gap of the incidents and the evidence and the backups don't show discrepancies or different dependencies, how do you know it wasn't done by the hackers?

      Here is the problem, even the fact that evidence might have been illegally obtained, you still have a group of people who openly admit they illegally accessed a computer system or sets of systems, did whatever they wanted to do unsupervised, then placed blame for something on a specific person. Liken that to someone was murdered, someone finds the weapon and claims it was that person who killed them because they broke into the crime scene before the police got there and discovered the evidence. Now imagine this person refuses to come forward and testify to their integrity or the legitimacy of the evidence.

      In any other situation, you would be able to find someone who would validate the evidence. In this situation, you have people purposely refusing to do so.

    55. Re:this is intolerable by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      sub legitimacy/ with admissibility. The legal argument of its validity will be resolved before a judge is ever asked to believe a story about it.

    56. Re:this is intolerable by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 1

      You make to OP's case. The French Revolution did not make things better for anyone and made things worse for most.

      --
      The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    57. Re:this is intolerable by martin-boundary · · Score: 3, Insightful
      LOL. What the French revolution actually resulted in was a Europe wide change in the systems of laws, the empowerment of the middle classes, and a lot more social justice in the long term. It took the whole 19th century, and repeated revolutions in many countries for the full change to take effect. Britain was the only successful hold out among the major European nations, and guess which country still has a class system and an idiosyncratic common law system to this day?

      Blaming the French revolution for Napoleon doesn't do it justice. The French revolution caused so much, much more than just a short lived French Empire. And thank God for that.

    58. Re:this is intolerable by tofarr · · Score: 2

      Did you read the background to the case? This is about criminal exploitation of a minor, blackmail and intimidation - far more than just "words"

    59. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The laws concerning spoilage of evidence are made to protect the innocent, but are most frequently called upon to protect the guilty. That's the unfortunate part of it. To protect the 1% of the innocent, the 99% of the guilty must go free. Love it or hate it? You'll probably hate it, until you're the 1%.

      Or until you think about it. If an innocent person is convicted instead of the real criminal more damage is done than when no-one is convicted.
      damage(don't punish criminal) + damage(punish innocent) > damage(don't punish criminal)

    60. Re:this is intolerable by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

      Does the 'unable to receive a fair trial' claim ever work? Wish the amount of media attention many crimes get, half of all criminals would need to be released without trial if it was followed in all cases.

    61. Re:this is intolerable by geekoid · · Score: 1

      Well, another person who has no clue about the justice system making up stories to back his petty little fallacy.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    62. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it's safe to assume that any evidence obtained by Anonymous was obtained by illegal means, and thus would be completely unuseable by the police anyway. I'm sure there's some policemen that would take said information and run with it, but I imagine a number of them would avoid the hell out of it for the justifiable fear that if it was found they used this illegal evidence to move forward in the case, any evidence obtained after that would also be inadmissible.

      So the police can do their own investigation on a completely separate tangent, since they simply cannot use any evidence obtained by anonymous no matter what.

      Not saying anonymous should have outed a guy who may or may not be guilty, but I'm just saying that anything anonymous does can't even slightly be given to the police anyway.

    63. Re:this is intolerable by Theaetetus · · Score: 1

      Problem there is that evidence was (considering the source) almost certainly obtained through illegal action. (hacking) This cause three immediate problems. 1. most legal systems spoil evidence that has been obtained through illegal actions,

      Interestingly, most legal systems only spoil evidence that has been obtained through illegal actions of the police (or other government agents). If a detective breaks into your apartment and sees a bunch of cocaine on your living room table, that evidence will get excluded. However, if a burglar breaks into your apartment, sees the cocaine, and calls 911 saying "help, I'm having a heart attack. I'm in the living room, come break down the door," and the cops do and find the cocaine, that evidence will not be excluded, because technically, they neither did anything illegal nor induced someone else to do anything illegal (they only learned about it after the fact).

      And yes, this leads to a huge potential loophole that works in the government's favor, but it should be obvious why they aren't in a hurry to close it.

    64. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "were abruptly overthrown by new Enlightenment principles of equality, citizenship and inalienable rights."

      So the 'left' are for vigilantism and beheading people in the streets without a trial. Enlightened?

    65. Re:this is intolerable by thesandtiger · · Score: 1

      First, let me say I don't know that I agree with what Anonymous (maybe) did in this case.

      Now, for the devil's advocate argument for why what they did was right:

      Anonymous is not concerned with AN individual or justice in A specific case. Their actions, by and large, are done either on a lark or, in some cases, to try and cause a larger change.

      In this case, for example, Anonymous probably doesn't care if this girl got "justice" or this guy was actually guilty - they want to send a message to people like this guy: You are not untouchable, we will find you, and you had better watch your shit. They publicly outed the man they think is responsible because they wanted it to make a splash and to get as much publicity as possible to spread that message; had they simply turned in the information to the police it's very likely that the end result would have been less awareness of what happened and who was responsible, even if it may have increased the possibility of a legal conviction.

      The guy's life is totally fucked now - I mean, innocent or guilty he's basically fucked. Authorities will go after him and he will have to deal with that; other people will just assume he's guilty regardless, he's fucked 9 ways from Sunday, and far, far more than he would EVER be from a criminal conviction for whatever he might have done.

      They're counting on that being scary enough to get some people to change their ways - to their ethical calculus that is worth a potential innocent being fucked.

      I don't think it's right to do that, but I can definitely see the appeal as a way to try and shift the balance of power in situations where often there are no legal remedies or one does not feel that legal remedies can work, or that they would make a change.

       

      --
      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
    66. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If Anonymous has material evidence that points to the guilt of a particular individual, they should turn that evidence over to the responsible law enforcement agency

      Problem there is that evidence was (considering the source) almost certainly obtained through illegal action. (hacking) This cause three immediate problems. 1. most legal systems spoil evidence that has been obtained through illegal actions, 2. it may make assembling an unspoiled jury (that has not been exposed to the tainted evidence) difficult, and 3. it may make the same evidence, obtained through legal means, more difficult or impossible to bring to court.

      The laws concerning spoilage of evidence are made to protect the innocent, but are most frequently called upon to protect the guilty. That's the unfortunate part of it. To protect the 1% of the innocent, the 99% of the guilty must go free. Love it or hate it? You'll probably hate it, until you're the 1%.

      I believe the reason to release it publicly is that the authorities can now treat it more or less like anonymous tip. An analogy: Burglar finds documents that indicate a person is evading taxes/embezzling etc... Puts those documents in an envelope and leaves them at the police station.

    67. Re:this is intolerable by ffflala · · Score: 1

      Problem there is that evidence was (considering the source) almost certainly obtained through illegal action. (hacking) This cause three immediate problems. 1. most legal systems spoil evidence that has been obtained through illegal actions, 2. it may make assembling an unspoiled jury (that has not been exposed to the tainted evidence) difficult, and 3. it may make the same evidence, obtained through legal means, more difficult or impossible to bring to court.

      Points 1 and 3 are not applicable to this context. Evidence is spoiled only when it is obtained through illegal means by the state. Failure to obtain proper search warrants, lack of reasonable cause, etc. However if the illegal means of publicizing the evidence was a private action, the state is off the hook.

      For example: Burglar breaks into a house, stumbles across a torture/murder operation that had until that point not been suspected. Burglar can go the police, and that will give them sufficient probable cause to investigate. Burglar could even send them an anonymous letter, or, as was done here, simply discuss the details anonymously on a publicly-accessible forum. So long as the state follows proper procedure at the point it comes to their attention, the evidence will not be spoiled.

      Tainted jury from publicity is certainly an obstacle, but that is what voir dire is for.

    68. Re:this is intolerable by iceaxe · · Score: 1

      Justice is a pipe dream, and you wouldn't really like it if you saw it.

      I'll take mercy, and the rule of law, imperfect though it be, over the justice of the mob. Thanks anyway.

      --
      WALSTIB!
    69. Re:this is intolerable by iceaxe · · Score: 1

      Anonymous members aren't educated in ethics.

      I agree with your sentiment, but this here ^ - yeah, bank CEOs and politicians ARE educated in ethics, kind of a requirement for all of the education that they need. Has that made their respective industries more ethical, do you think?

      Interestingly enough, yes, I do think those mandatory ethics courses make a difference. Do they inspire perfect ethics throughout every individual in an industry? Don't be ridiculous. But "a little bit better" is an improvement over "not any better".

      --
      WALSTIB!
    70. Re:this is intolerable by BeanThere · · Score: 1

      Also so that they know the limitations/expectations their unsuspecting victims are held to.

    71. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      England managed their transformation earlier and with a fraction of the chaos. It was the crown that formed modern Europe in the ashes of the Napoleonic Empire and two world wars. Their reward will be bankruptcy at the hands of the same sort of "progressives" that turned a revolution into a Reign of Terror.

    72. Re:this is intolerable by vux984 · · Score: 1

      The problem I have with your scenario is that police have received anonymous tips on crimes for decades.

      Someone sees a gangland slaying, has no desire whatsoever to be publicly identified as a witness for fear of reprisals, but still wants to see justice. So he calls the police from a payphone somewhere and identifies who did it, providing enough details about the killing (number of shots fired, direction victim was facing when shot, the fact that he was on his knees, etc. This convinces the police to take it seriously, so they investigate that individual see that its likely true, and start building a case against him.

      Now when has the defense ever successfully argued:

      "Your honor, all the evidence against my client is tainted. A mysterious shadowy figure called "anonymous" has clearly had opportunity to frame my client by planting evidence in his car and home. Then he brought this "evidence" to light and blamed my client. It should be barred from entry unless the prosecution can prove it was not tamped with by this shadowy anonymous figure in order to make my client appear guilty."

      The judge never turns to the prosecutor and says "can you gaurantee blah blah blah..."

      The prosecutor never then admits: No your honor, the accused's Ford Mustang where we found the murder weapon does not log the actions of its users, and according to our techs the Mustang door locks of that series are actually quite easy for a locksmith/car theif to defeat. The vehicle is fairly old and has lots of scratches and dents so it's not possible to prove whether it was tampered with or not, and the owner has not validated the integrity of the locks on a regular basis, so we can't verify how well they worked. It is entirely possible a shadowy figure planted the gun in his car.

      The judge doesn't ever say "Ok, you can forget about using the evidence then."

      It just doesn't happen.

      If you are being framed, or suspect you are being framed, or actually did the crime and just feel like raising the possibility you were being framed as part of your defense, you don't get to just challenge all the evidence against you and have it thrown out by demanding the prosecution prove that its impossible you were framed.

      Any one who thinks that is in fantasy land.

    73. Re:this is intolerable by shiftless · · Score: 1

      If Anonymous has material evidence that points to the guilt of a particular individual, they should turn that evidence over to the responsible law enforcement agency

      Where would they find one of those?

    74. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Letting Anonymous be the judge and jury means having a primitive and chaotic system.

      FTFY.

    75. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is unlikely that anon are wrong about the child message board posts, the other posts made by this guy pertaining to children AND being wrong about the harassment of this poor girl. One of the three (or all) are likely to be true which means a dangerous offender will hopefully be removed from the streets. What I have read on several occasions is that this girl was beaten on school property by other kids and teachers, faculty and police were involved at one point. How is it that an under-age girl can be beaten on school property, a nude photo of her be taken and sent to her family members (i recall her video mentioning this) and yet police and parents never thought it a good idea to investigate further. Let's not also forget the fact that she had scars across her wrists from cutting herself and had attempted suicide by drinking BLEACH. There have been extensive posts by some folks within the justice system claiming that the actions by Anon are horrible and that the justice system works. I beg to differ. A young girl is dead, every single warning sign was there...need I say more?

    76. Re:this is intolerable by mjwx · · Score: 1

      LOL. What the French revolution actually resulted in was a Europe wide change in the systems of laws, the empowerment of the middle classes, and a lot more social justice in the long term. It took the whole 19th century, and repeated revolutions in many countries for the full change to take effect. Britain was the only successful hold out among the major European nations, and guess which country still has a class system and an idiosyncratic common law system to this day?

      Blaming the French revolution for Napoleon doesn't do it justice. The French revolution caused so much, much more than just a short lived French Empire. And thank God for that.

      Right, learn some history.

      England empowered the middle classes in the 1700's after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 that changed England from an absolute monarch to a constitutional (representative) monarch and reinstated a lot of the religious tolerance of King James I that were reversed by King James II. During this time a Bill of RIghts in England was established. This bill of rights ended any moves towards a catholic monarchy and an absolute monarch as the political system in England moved permanently to a parliamentary system.

      Holland and the Nordic nations were also very liberal around this time. France, Spain and modern day Italy maintained absolute religious monarchs. It took France an entire century to catch up to England in terms of freedom for middle and lower classes and it was extremely bloody and just resulted in an Emperor being propped up. France did not cause any of the things you said, representative governments were all over Europe by 1788, France was playing catch up.

      Further more, the French revolutions were not a clean transition to democracy as you are trying to make out. I suggest you start reading up on the Reign of Terror. During this time an estimated 40,000 French were put to death, few of which were aristocrats, many were executed for being members of opposing political parties. France didn't settle into a democracy until after the Napoleonic wars.

      Go back and learn your history instead of making it up.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    77. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless the real criminal commits another crime, at which point you have 100% more victims for the same amount of criminal.

      So, would it be better if you have 10 convictions for 10 victims and you only put away the right guy once at the end, or is it better to put away 10 people before you can get a second victim? It's 19 victims in the first case (treating a false conviction as another victim) versus 10 victims the second way.

    78. Re:this is intolerable by randyleepublic · · Score: 1

      No, so that they will be aware they are crossing lines, and then take steps to prevent or mitigate damage.

      --
      Social Credit would solve everything...
    79. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      nd guess which country still has a class system and an idiosyncratic common law system to this day?

      The USA?

    80. Re:this is intolerable by Maow · · Score: 1

      Here's why I think it's so blatantly obvious you're wrong about evidence being excluded (unless the Crown simply says, "Here's what we have - straight from Anonymous"):

      From a story in today's Globe & Mail about a CS teacher that copied an email attachment from an email between students (i.e. he wasn't involved with producing the picture):

      The student depicted in the photographs had sent them to another student by e-mail and Mr. Cole – whose responsibilities included patrolling students’ e-mails and files – had allegedly gained access to it and copied them into his own computer.

      The school’s principal seized the computer, searched it more extensively and then provided it to police. Police investigators then searched the laptop and discs without a warrant.

      The judge at Mr. Cole’s trial excluded the evidence as having been obtained from an unauthorized search. Partly because the school had informed employees that they could use their computers for private use, the judge concluded that Mr. Cole had a reasonable expectation of privacy, and the police ought therefore to have obtained a warrant before their search.

      Followed by this:

      The court majority said that privacy rights in a workplace computer are important but can be overridden by the importance of the evidence.

      “The evidence is highly reliable and probative physical evidence,” Mr. Justice Morris Fish wrote for the court in a 6-1 judgment. “The exclusion of the material would have a marked negative impact on the truth-seeking function of the criminal trial process.”

      It ordered a new trial for Mr. Cole.

      I reiterate the statement, "The exclusion of the material would have a marked negative impact on the truth-seeking function of the criminal trial process".

      There-in lies a critical aspect of Canadian jurisprudence: absolutes can, when followed with unwavering enthusiasm, lead to an impairment of the pursuit of justice.

      Also note that the Court found that the police should have had a warrant, but didn't. However, the Justices found that the police could've obtained one easily had they asked (they searched the computer at request of the owner of the computer), so it wasn't a big deal, although one Justice dissented.

      It's a very interesting read about the flexibility of the system when trying to achieve a just resolution.

    81. Re:this is intolerable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      guess which country still has a class system and an idiosyncratic common law system to this day?

      Oooooh, pick me, pick me, I know!!! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

    82. Re:this is intolerable by martin-boundary · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but your argument fell flat as soon as you claimed that monarchies were liberal. Nobody cares if King X in country Y was half as ruthless as his father before him. Monarchs have no business existing in a modern society.

  10. Yes and no by BeanThere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Should the police and the courts be given the appropriate amount of time to determine if there is sufficient evidence, or if a crime has in fact been committed

    In theory yes, but the problem with bullying is that the legal system doesn't protect it sufficiently .. there is this double standard. The exact same behaviors that would be considered criminal just a few years later is dismissed as 'normal' (and you're told to 'ignore it') at school level. This is primarily when vigilantism becomes attractive - when the formal justice system fails to protect victims.

    What should happen is that more forms of bullying should be criminalized, and the penalties should be harsher - e.g. physical assault should be treated more often as an adult crime and teens should be tried as adults for committing physical assault. And as with committing crime as an adult, there should be harsher consequences that follow you through life. Currently when leaving school, there are no negative consequences for bullies at all - not even a modicum of shame in the workplace (this is why I support more 'name and shame' efforts for even past bullies).

    Unfortunately, much like battered wife syndrome, without formal recourse, desperate victims are sometimes forced and driven to either tragically commit suicide, or occasionally, take out their own tormentors in the worst cases (e.g. some school shootings). At least in the latter, if there is a silver lining, it's that there is some manner of repercussion for the perpetrators - that is what is sorely needed.

    1. Re:Yes and no by Spaseboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And all adulteresses should be forced to wear a scarlet "A"!

      Children are not fully-formed adults, we can't treat them as such. They do not have full control over their lives as adults do. If you believe that children should be treated as adults than whatever age you believe that begins they should be allowed to drink, smoke, gamble and vote.

      You can't have it both ways.

      --
      "I don't want more choice, I just want nicer things!"
      -Jennifer Saunders as Edina Monsoon
    2. Re:Yes and no by BeanThere · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Hint: The reason children bully isn't because they simply don't and 'can't' understand they're doing something wrong. We also already expect children to understand it's wrong to murder, rape, stab, steal and more. It's hardly a stretch to say, OK, physically punching someone is wrong. We also teach them that various wrong things are wrong, whereas bullying we do not - we simply shrug and say 'kids will be kids' - you seem to honestly bizarrely and absurdly think that the only available options are 'scarlet As', and doing absolutely nothing like we do now. (If I were to venture a guess, I'd guess you bullied someone at school ... in which case of course you'd feel that way.) I won't even being to address the idiocy of your 'scarlet A' comment .. don't waste our time with straw men, thanks.

    3. Re:Yes and no by russotto · · Score: 1

      Children are not fully-formed adults, we can't treat them as such.

      Right. They should be kept in a barrel until they're 21, protecting them from the world and the world from them.

    4. Re:Yes and no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't believe in punishment. It doesn't really act as a deterrent. It only satisfies people's lust for vengeance.

      The focus should be in the protection of the victims, prevention of crime. The bad apples among us are usually evident to the parents, teachers and classmates from an early age. Yes, they may come around, but until they do, they should be moved to a more guarded environment where they can do less damage.

    5. Re:Yes and no by RobertLTux · · Score: 1

      What should happen is the Juvie system should be rigged to 1 show the punklings how to be Useful 2 make sure that the Violent But Stable Punklings get into the Military (you think its cool to run about shooting things fine heres your P90 shoot THEM not US).

      so you get a Punkling with 5 charges of Assault ship him off to Mini-Boot and get him trained proper (of course if he doesn't learn R E S P E C T then the DIs will eat him alive).

      While in the normal cases you need that Sealed Juvie Record sometimes you need to flip to Trial As An Adult.

      --
      Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
    6. Re:Yes and no by geekoid · · Score: 1

      In some cases it worse. A bullied child will be upset and crying. The bullied child gets extracted from the class, the buillies win.
      '
      I have seen this is school after school clubs. The victim is doing something they are excited about, gets bullied and the victim can no longer attend the class.

      I had a teacher try to tell me "kid's will be kids", but before she finished uttering the sentence, I knocks all her pencils off her desk. "Hey, people will be people".
      To her credit, she got the point.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    7. Re:Yes and no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you think someone who's 16 or 17 is too young to understand what they're doing, you need to come back down to reality. Honestly, if I made the rules, I'd make it such that anyone 14 and up is tried as an adult (perhaps jailed in a separate location though, or at the bare minimum, a separate 'younger person' cell). Anyone 10 to 13 are evaluated to see if they're mature enough to be tried as adults. If they don't pass that evaluation, or are younger, 100% of the responsibility and punishment goes to their legal guardian, be it parent or otherwise. That means if your 11 year old for some bizarre reason goes and murders someone, that's on the parent's head if they don't pass evaluation. You as a parent are now in prison for X years. Of course, there will be psyche evaluations in these cases to see if it's neglegent parenting, or actually some psychological problem that caused it.

    8. Re:Yes and no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tell that to Omar Khadr.

      Yes - AC.

    9. Re:Yes and no by Whorhay · · Score: 1

      Honestly I don't care for the sealing of juvie records at all. A person's history will almost always be of some relevance if and when they commit crimes later in life. People understand that children act differently than adults and a jury should be fully able to interpret whether or not past crimes are relevant, if the judge even lets it get to them. The other thing that should be done away with is statutory minimums and the seperate laws for minors and adults.

  11. I'm worried that someone asks by rduke15 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is this serious? Is someone on /. really wondering if it is better to let the police and the judiciary sytem decide if someone committed a crime and who it was, or just let anonymous (!) people do justice on their own?

    Are people really nostalgic of the good old days of lynching etc.?

    1. Re:I'm worried that someone asks by QuasiSteve · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Are people really nostalgic of the good old days of lynching etc.?

      I'm not sure if that question was intended to be serious - but it very well should be.

      Just looking at general reactions to convictions etc. here in NL, I would say that people are indeed nostalgic to it.

      A pedosexual, for example, should quite literally be lynched as far as the vocal commenting-at-news-websites people appear to be concerned. No matter the sentence, it is never severe enough - but death penalty would be too easy. If in jail, it is hoped they get brutally killed there. If they get out, it is hoped they get brutally killed as soon as they step outside the gates. If they evade that, it is hoped that they will never be able to live anywhere, ever, again (one municipality already refused to assign housing to a convicted pedosexual, for example). There is no "they did the time, justice was served" feeling there.

      That's an extreme. More mild, then... recently there was a 'Project X' type thing up north that got out of hand, with kids rioting, stealing stuff, etc. Of those who have appeared before judges so far, the vast majority got off with community work or maybe a small fine. The residents, shopkeepers, etc. screamed bloody murder and felt like the sentences should have been way higher, or that they had wished they had used that pipe to break their legs on the night in question after all. Some in a discussion panel even said that anybody who was there during the riots (instead of saying "I don't want to be anywhere near this" and leaving), should be part of a group of people who get fined by default - even if they didn't actually do anything themselves; guilt by association.

      You can see some of it in comments at Slashdot as well when comparisons are made between pirating/hacking/etc. and vicious crimes. While principally a commentary on the ridiculous height of maximum penalties for the former activities, some explanation of the penalties for the latter activities tends to leave people's jaw firmly dropped to the floor as well, and wondering why on Earth people are let off so easily.

      A lot of people do seem to feel that 'justice' is not being served. As such, it's not too surprising that many feel that vigilantism is an appropriate answer; short-term they get to deliver their own justice, and long-term it may force the government's hand to provide harsher sentencing options.

    2. Re:I'm worried that someone asks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Excellent points, I was firmly in the "prison rape"/retribution camp before reading your post. You've definitely changed my mind toward one of more reflection and acceptance.

      Well, except for spammers. In all cases spammers must die.

    3. Re:I'm worried that someone asks by bigtrike · · Score: 1

      Do you include statutory rape in those blanket statements? In some states in the US, it's possible to be declared a child rapist if you have consensual sex with your girlfriend who is 1 day younger than you on the wrong day. Certainly this deserves a far different punishment than the case of abusing a minor with decades of age difference.

    4. Re:I'm worried that someone asks by QuasiSteve · · Score: 1

      Man, I can understand the 'flamebait' mod on just a bunch of statements of fact (I can provide citations, but people can just hit google, really - the cases I mentioned all hit international news as well) if you think that I was making a statement regarding sentencing of pedosexuals, etc.

      Honestly, I don't know what the general opinion on that (statutory rape of a minor) is in NL as we don't really have the same kind of 'registered sex offender' type thing here, so that doesn't really hit the news, or even discussion sites, here.
      I think most people here would probably shrug that right off as a result. But, again, I wouldn't be able to say either way.

      Personally - before mods go crazy again - I think the way the U.S. handles 'sex offender' things is batshit crazy, for the example cited by parent poster, and for the ramifications thereof.

    5. Re:I'm worried that someone asks by SecurityGuy · · Score: 1

      There is no "they did the time, justice was served" feeling there.

      Nor should there be. The scales of justice are an illusion, unless you can actually go around and find people who would say "Yes, I'd let you commit $ACT against me if you are then confined to jail for $YEARS." If you can't find people who think that's a fair trade, justice has not been served.

      That's beside the point, though. Putting someone in jail is not to "serve justice" as far as I'm concerned. I want someone in jail if they've committed a crime mostly because they've clearly declared their willingness to violate others, and a propensity to do so. As far as I'm concerned, once someone does that, we have the right to kick them out of the playground. Sure, for less serious offenses we should give people a chance to learn from their mistakes, but sure I think people who molest childen get to go to jail forever for it. I don't want them raped in prison, I just want them kept away from the rest of us.

    6. Re:I'm worried that someone asks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When the existing system is perceived to be corrupted/failed, then yes, the masses will feel the need to reclaim their judicial mandate.

  12. Revenge? by dimeglio · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What Anonymous is doing is called revenge. Revenge is not justice.

    --
    Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the author.
    1. Re:Revenge? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's more of a tragedy, that despite this great connected world, the girl was not able to find help, or help was not able to find her, before things went that far.

      Revenge won't help her now.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:Revenge? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are correct, but it's really sweet tasting. Far more sweet tasting than the bile you get from the courts labelled as justice.... If this is the guy, and he is dragged through the streets until dead, There will be far more closure to the family that lost their little girl, than him getting a nice "I'm crazy" verdict and living in a medical institution...

      Although shipping him to the USA to be butt rapped daily by big bad bubba also has a very sweet taste to it as far as revenge goes....

    3. Re:Revenge? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Revenge won't help her now.

      True, but a healthy fear of the wrath of god via anonymous threat might cause the aggressor to have MANY sleepless night...

    4. Re:Revenge? by Falconhell · · Score: 0

      Its the American way, see all those dead Afghans and Iraqi's.

    5. Re:Revenge? by nedlohs · · Score: 1

      Retributive justice is a perfectly valid theory of justice, thus revenge is justice (at least under one extremely popular version of justice).

    6. Re:Revenge? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its the American way, see all those dead Afghans and Iraqi's.

      In British Columbia?

    7. Re:Revenge? by Doctor_Jest · · Score: 1

      Assuming Anonymous actually has the right aggressor.

      --
      It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
    8. Re:Revenge? by Xest · · Score: 2

      I think that's what struck me most about this story, that the poor girl found no one to talk to who would listen. It's scary to think how many other kids might be in that situation. It's scary because I suspect all it would take is for her to find even one person like possibly even you or I who she could talk to.

      "Revenge won't help her now."

      This is true, but to be fair, it may help others. If even one other jackass doing this sort of bullying is given pause for thought and made to think twice and lay off someone they were on the verge of pushing to suicide, then I somewhat think that it's a net gain at the end of the day.

    9. Re:Revenge? by Talderas · · Score: 1

      The girl found no one to talk to because her parents didn't want to parents and just shipped her off to relatives.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    10. Re:Revenge? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      Tat's counter to all facts, and full of ignorance.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    11. Re:Revenge? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh...yes it is. It's the appropriate amount of revenge on the appropriate individual(s) responsible.

      The justice ~system~ is the system in place to determine who the appropriate person is and what the appropriate amount of revenge is.

    12. Re:Revenge? by ToddInSF · · Score: 1

      A lynch mob NEVER has the "right" aggressor.

      Even when they manage to have the correct one, what they're doing isn't right. When a mob appoints itself to be judge, jury, and executioner - you've lost civilization.

      A bunch of anonymous people on the internet is not a substitution for justice; it's a reversion to a kind of tribal pack mentality. /. calls anonymous posters anonymous cowards for a reason - that's what they are.

    13. Re:Revenge? by Eunuchswear · · Score: 1

      Balls. What Anonymous are doing is bullying. They are indistinguishable from the shits that drove the girl to suicide in the first place.

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
  13. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Note that I'm supported this critical response in the same manner that you supported your assertion (as in not at all). Your thesis is bullshit.

  14. Parallel story - reddit 'troll' outed by gawker by QuasiSteve · · Score: 1

    A parallel story, not related to the case in question, but another instance of somebody being outed for their (in)actions:
    http://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-the-biggest-troll-on-the-web

    The person in that story might be a bit more on the verge of the defensible than those who would directly target a specific person - minor or otherwise - such as the one covered here.

    1. Re:Parallel story - reddit 'troll' outed by gawker by Chubby_C · · Score: 1
      Now, at least in the /r/todayilearned sub-reddit, they have banned any links to any gawker network sites

      Link to reddit mod post

      --
      - My question is: Can Slashdot be Slashdotted? -
  15. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Voting in a Republican and A Christian leads to this. If we had a woman Neo Pagan in the white house it would have never happened.

    Dont believe me? during the downward spiral of the USA EVERY SINGLE president has been a Christian! The evidence is there! It's a conspiracy!

    Hey it makes as much sense as the rest of the nutjobs out there.....

  16. Jumping on the vigilante wagon seems wrong by skabob · · Score: 2

    Even if this is the right guy and the accuser was of sound mind, I'd prefer the law would handle this rather than Anonymous. Vigilante justice is fun and all, but how far from throwing acid on people or stonings is this?

  17. No honor among trolls? by Hentes · · Score: 1, Insightful

    And should we trust Anonymous on this one? What if they are just covering for one of their own?

    1. Re:No honor among trolls? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      tormenting people online?
      mocking the dead?

      that doesn't sound anything like the anonymous that I know

    2. Re:No honor among trolls? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously, if you've been to 4chan's /b/ the past week, you'd see a thread at all times continuing to tease and make fun of Amanda. Now, "Anonymous" the hacker collective != "Anonymous" the hivemind that posts on 4chan, but no one can deny the huge overlap in catch phrases, slogans, images used and even political ideology. Which is why this hacker collective doomed itself in the first place, by always keeping a familial association with /b/tards, more than likely they've just outted one of their kin (assuming they got the right guy).

    3. Re:No honor among trolls? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In one news paper article I read, the reporter emailed the "bad guy" and he responded and said that he somehow got ownership of the account and the original owner was a friend in NY. The said account is one on some pedo web site ... so even if he isn't the original cyber bully, he obviously browses those sites.

    4. Re:No honor among trolls? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think the /b/tards would care.
      This way they ruin 2 lives for the price of 1 (literally).
      They will cheer you on while you torture your cat, and then just as gladly hand you over to the police.
      If you can't protect your anonymity, you are not anonymous.

  18. Re:It's all tied together by ClioCJS · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd take the partially opposing perspective that Christianity and moralism are responsible for making it so that a) it's somehow "evil" to see someone's breasts, b) if a girl shows her breasts, she is a slut and a whore and should be ashamed of herself and do whatever it takes to have no one find out about it, c) if someone has a naked picture of you, they have some sort of power over you, because boobies are evil and we all should be ashamed of our beautiful bodies.

    --
    -Clio
    Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
    Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
  19. Opinions... by skelly33 · · Score: 1

    ... everyone has one, and Anonymous is no exception. Absent a gag order, due process has historically done little to thwart the expression of opinions or free speech, regardless of basis in fact/truth (or lack thereof). AFAIC, provided that they don't pose an obstruction of justice or investigation, Anonymous can discuss whoever they want whenever they want regarding public concerns - that alone does not make them vigilantes. Vigilantes are the ones who haphazardly take action. Speech is not action... hence the expression: actions speak louder than words...

    I suppose the greatest risk here is the potential for ruinous libel of their target if they end up being wrong. Would Anonymous apologize or write a check?

  20. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ok.

    "tricking a 14 year old into baring her breasts" Yeah she did that willingly before any of this started. It's called "being an attention whore".

    "Atheism leads to this." Rofl, so not believing in a sky man leads to cyberbullying. OK. Because religious people NEVER ostracize or demonize people based on their sexuality.

    "The culture of consent and contraception, leads to this." Yeah, if there were no condoms, then she would probably be an Olympic athlete or physicist! IMAGINE what could happen in a world without latex!

    Also, this is probably more akin to a human sacrifice than 'murder' per se. Reminds me of the South Park episode where they sacrifice a celebrity for the crops.

  21. I hope they're right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These articles have been circling since yesterday.

    The problem with vigilante justice is that it's tough to expect reasoned response when you show-up at someone's door with pitchforks and torches. I hope they're right and this tip-off helps lead to an investigation, trial, and punishment that fits the crime for taking advantage of a teen, but in an online world where everyone's an expert cyber-sleuth it only takes one emotionally-charged person to believe the wrong thing online and do something horrible.

    The police are around for a reason. It's not that they're better investigators, it's that they have the mandate to do what's right and reasonable instead of popular and frenzied. Let them do their job before laying judgement.

  22. Re:It's all tied together by hazah · · Score: 1

    Yes, cause you know, no priest was ever found to do the same thing. Get real, neither atheism nor religion is at the core of a sick psyche. Get your head out of your ass.

  23. Due Process by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The primary issue with due process is that it is set up in order to preserve the life of an innocent person, at the cost of letting 9 guilty people go free. When you find yourself at the end of a legal cannon, you will be very happy for every line written that the system must jump through in order to prosecute you, legally.

    Unfortunately, the worst of us know how to use this system to benefit themselves, and so as the web is drawn tighter, they simply make themselves more slippery until eventually the spiders are trapped and only the flies know the way out of the web. The genie is out of the bottle for these, crooks, though so a hard reset of the tort system won't fix anything. We're stuck with what we have and it is ever-worsening.

    In comes vigilantism. They don't worry about things like "alleged" or "possible" -- they deal in terms of black and white -- guilty or ignored. You don't want to be at the end of a vigilante cannon -- as they lack all accountability, you lack the security of knowing that you will escape unscathed if you prove yourself to be innocent.

    As with any red-tape law, before you criticize it, you must ask yourself "If a very bad political power wanted to come after me, can this law potentially be used to protect me?" The answer is almost always a sorry "yes"

  24. crowdsourced prosecutor != crowdsourced jury by xeno · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I caught a few of the threads where the apparent perp was outed, and I was very encouraged at the volume of comments that basically said 'that's enough data, now let's turn it over to the authorities.' Crowdsourcing of evidence-gathering is terribly powerful, and it's nice to see that even in a large pool of people (in a vigilante mood) the majority still have a sense that there's a line between prosecutor and jury. Sure, there are issues with naming potentially innocent people, but when the crowd refrains from attack and turns to a judicial system, it's the best we can do.

    --
    I think not...(*poof*)
  25. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is rape and murder. Maybe not by society's definition. Maybe not by the liberalized culture that thinks tricking a 14 year old into baring her breasts on the internet is just good clean fun. Or that consent is always equivalent to permission. So as much as I consider what anonymous has done to be vigilantism; one cannot say that this man, or the teenage boy, or any of the rest of this poor girl's tormentors are innocent.

    It's all tied together. Society's rejection of morality and ethics leads to this. Atheism leads to this. The culture of consent and contraception, leads to this. The only thing left to do is learn from it instead of repeating the same mistakes as the hippie generation.

    Emphasis mine... you were doing so well up until this point. Straw man fallacy. Atheism does not lead to this. Amorality leads to this. It is 100% possible to be an atheist with morals. In fact, I can list thousands of amoral things organized religion has done to the world. (Inquisition, Jihad, etc.) Your argument is bullshit.

    Consent and contraception leads to healthy, happy relationships without unwanted children to screw things up. Those allow you to adequately plan for your child's future, save up for their lives, and be prepared for when they actually arrive. With consent and contraception, you have the opportunity to provide a better, properly planned life instead of one that leads to divorce, single-parent homes and priests molesting children. (See? I can straw-man too!)

    Remember: Treat your religion like your penis. Don't whip it out every chance you get, and please don't jam it down my throat. Because that would be gay. And we all know what you extremist religious types feel about gayness.

  26. According to Vancouver news: wrong address by thomasdz · · Score: 5, Informative

    The anonymous dox might have the WRONG address

    http://www.cknw.com/news/vancouver/story.aspx?ID=1791555

    there's the danger

    --
    Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.
    1. Re:According to Vancouver news: wrong address by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Noooo that NEVER HAPPENS!

      http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/03/spike_lee_george_zimmerman_address_twitter_trayvon_martin.html

    2. Re:According to Vancouver news: wrong address by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are we sure they are not using Apple Maps?

    3. Re:According to Vancouver news: wrong address by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, what the hell else is going to say, regardless of the truth of the matter? In addition, what exactly does "wrong house" mean? Can it be the wrong house but the right guy? Bah, I have just as much reason to believe the testimony of that guy as I do Anonymous (i.e. none either way)!

  27. Re:It's all tied together by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is rape and murder [blogspot.com]. Maybe not by society's definition.

    So then it's not rape and murder.* What other definition actually counts for anything?

    Maybe not by the liberalized culture that thinks tricking a 14 year old into baring her breasts on the internet is just good clean fun.

    Also not by any level-headed person including those who do think that tricking a 14 year old into exposing herself is a hideous thing to do.

    From the page you linked to:

    Thus, homosexuality is rape. Thus, one night heterosexual stands are rape. Thus, premarital sex, even with "consent", is rape.

    Confirmed: you are an idiot. Doubly so if you actually wrote that and don't just agree with it.

    Society's rejection of morality and ethics leads to this. Atheism leads to this. The culture of consent and contraception, leads to this.

    No, no, and no. You know what leads to this? Humans. We are all (including the Pope, no matter what the Catholics are told to believe) fallible. We do some shitty things sometimes, and just as many of those things have been in the name of a god as not. Grow out of talking to your imaginary friend and take some collective responsibility along with the rest of us soul-less animals.

    Also, find a friend to get laid with. It's awesome!

    *Disclaimer: I do think that what happened to this poor girl is terrible and those responsible should face the full force of the law, such as it is. I just decided to focus more on this poster for being a cock-womble.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  28. Re:It's all tied together by ganjadude · · Score: 0

    and you forgot porn

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  29. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    And I done screwed up. I don't mean amoral. I meant immoral. Sorry, it's been a long week, and it's only Tuesday.

  30. Re:It's all tied together by Soilworker · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You wouldn't believe how many women consider consensual one nighter as rape when it involve alcohol (even when both are affected). They somewhat think that remorse is equivalent to being forced to,

  31. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Atheism does not lead to this. In fact, statistics say these tormentors were Christians. Atheists can still have morales, they just do not need to attribute them to an angry god to apply them to their life.

    "Culture of contraceptives"? Really? Teenagers have desires, impulses and a lack of experience in controlling the same, and no matter how much you want to push your conservative agenda of abstention, statistics also show they won't comply. You do NOT get to tell other people how to live. If your kid decides to go against your religious wishes, which would you rather have? A stern and harsh talk about pre-marital sex, or a bill for the delivery of your grand child? You can raise your kids how you want to, but if you even TRY to prevent mine from being able to buy condoms, you are violating my rights and the rights of my children.

  32. Anonymous is just the KKK incarnate. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anonymous is just the KKK incarnate. I love em to death, but as in the KKK which was founded to force deadbeat dads to take care of their families, Anonymous is just enjoying their moment in the sun. God Bless them every one...

    Help Eliminate Stupid Speeding Tickets

  33. Re:It's all tied together by archatheist · · Score: 2

    Okay. I read your blog post at the link. Your definition of rape omits the concept of consent, and randomly includes premarital sex (which would fit the definition in the first line) and homosexuality. Good luck with your mimeographed newsletter; I shall file you under "troll" and carry on. I sine Deus.

    --
    "No sane man will dance." -- Marcus Tullius Cicero
  34. Anonymous has not dished out Justice by wisnoskij · · Score: 2

    They simply provided information.

    "Anonymous right in short-circuiting what might in fact be a lengthy process with no guarantee that anyone will face charges?"

    You would only be right to even ask that question if they set out to punished this person, they have simply acted as a journalist type group and released information about the case.

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  35. No good can come of this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Come on, what positive outcome could conceivably come from making this kid's name public? If people torment this little asswipe enough, will it bring his victim back?

    Oh, right, Anonymous. They just want to watch the world burn.

  36. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Also socialism.

  37. Re:It's all tied together by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 2

    The culture of consent led to this?!?!?!

    Are you saying that what we need is NON-consent?

    By the way, asshole - it was a culture that UNDERVALUES female's consent that led to this.

    She did not consent, yet all over the web you'll see on every news site thousands of comments blaming HER for creating the problem.

    But she didn't. She did NOT CONSENT. But when females don't consent, there are always plenty of males who don't give a fuck and proceed to harass and abuse and insult and sexualize and objectify anyway.

    --
    This space available.
  38. Then the irony comes... by AlienSexist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So if Anonymous makes a mistake and outs the wrong person and that person becomes harassed by the public backlash to the point of committing suicide... Will Anonymous out their outer?

    1. Re:Then the irony comes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they'll certainly send their concern trolls

    2. Re:Then the irony comes... by erroneus · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This "Anonymous" is 4Chan and the crowd. They helped to participate in Todd's suffering. Next, they had a new target and went on to make him suffer. A new jackass pops up to participate in the event by placing a dead-girl picture next to a picture of Todd and he made himself yet another target.

      Anonymous is not a bunch of do-gooders. They simply select "worthy targets" and try to make their lives hell. It's never about justice. But what's a worthy target? Anyone they feel is stupid. Todd was stupid for appearing nude on the internet and more stupid for getting angry about it and not learning about the Streissand effect. It goes on and on like that. And this target #2? He's just another of those 4Chanimals. They will turn on each other because they are not really a group or a collective. They don't travel in packs... they just go to the same web site(s) and screw around with each other for fun. And a few of them don't have a reasonable notion of what "too much" or "too far" is.

      Of course, people will misunderstand the nature of these Anonymous people and somehow think they are of like mind and in some way organized. That's just not the case.

    3. Re:Then the irony comes... by SecurityGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Todd was stupid for appearing nude on the internet and more stupid for getting angry about it and not learning about the Streissand effect.

      No, she wasn't stupid. She was a child. There's a term for acting stupidly due to youth. Innocence.

    4. Re:Then the irony comes... by Lehk228 · · Score: 1

      >They simply select "worthy targets"

      aka lulzcows

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    5. Re:Then the irony comes... by rohan972 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I think you have misinterpreted what was said.

      But what's a worthy target? Anyone they feel is stupid. Todd was stupid for appearing nude on the internet and more stupid for getting angry about it and not learning about the Streissand effect. It goes on and on like that.

      It seems to me that the sentence you quoted is paraphrasing the attitude of the anonymous attackers, not the posters own opinion.

    6. Re:Then the irony comes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Americans are dimwits. Seriously you say she is a child at 15 , but you press for her freedom to have sex at this age , go nude if she wants party late night.
      Excuse me but how does it equate to innocence is she has the choice and right to do all this ?. It is the parents the elders that have failed her.

    7. Re:Then the irony comes... by SecurityGuy · · Score: 1

      Correct. I'm not trying to attack the poster, I'm disagreeing with that sentiment.

    8. Re:Then the irony comes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How old would you say that one needs to be to understand putting naked pictures of yourself on the internet is a bad idea? I think this may extend beyond innocence into the arena of stupidity. What happened to her is absolutely tragic, but it's not like she was a young child who didn't understand what she was doing.

    9. Re:Then the irony comes... by SecurityGuy · · Score: 1

      I don't think she was putting naked pictures of herself on the internet. My impression from reading this story in the past was that she exposed herself to one person on a webcam. You might equate that with "putting naked pictures of yourself on the internet", and technically, I'd agree with you, but she probably didn't understand that. Is it plausible she didn't realize that person could keep the image? Yeah. Naive, but yeah. Is it plausible she was deceived into trusting that the person was a kid like her? Yeah. That he wouldn't share the image? Yeah.

      I don't think there's a particular age when you learn this. I think there's an event. It can be putting pictures of yourself online and being ashamed when they get passed around the school. It can be a parent warning you that such things happen. It can be reading about it. Keep in mind you're talking about a 14 year old whose experience of sexuality and intimacy was probably exactly zero.

    10. Re:Then the irony comes... by AbominousSalad · · Score: 1

      This "Anonymous" is 4Chan and the crowd. They helped to participate in Todd's suffering.

      Citation needed.

      Anonymous is not a bunch of do-gooders. They simply select "worthy targets" and try to make their lives hell. It's never about justice. But what's a worthy target? Anyone they feel is stupid.

      Citation needed.

      --
      Every trollism an AC posts is prefixed, in my mind, with "A. Coward whined, in a weak and cowardly voice:"
  39. But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...what about this precious little snowflake's (/s) parents? Why weren't they aware of what their minor daughter was doing on the internet?

    1. Re:But... by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      ...what about this precious little snowflake's (/s) parents? Why weren't they aware of what their minor daughter was doing on the internet?

      You either have no children, or else you're some sort of control freak who monitors their kids 24/7.

      Can you imagine the outcry on slashdot/4chan/reddit if a parent suggested banning their children from the internet until they were 18, employing a bodyguard to be with them at school and never allowing them out of the house on their own at weekends/nights?

      Because that's what you'd have to do to keep them 100% safe.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  40. The Suspected Person Appeared In Court Yesterday by idealego · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to the following website, the suspected person appeared in court yesterday:
    http://www.dailydot.com/news/amanda-todd-kody-maxson/

  41. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jolly good show! And a Happy TT to all!

  42. Also related by Tailhook · · Score: 1

    Another related story about people being exposed appeared on Slashdot a few days ago. Fortunately that one had a happy ending (no pun intended): the names were published. The First Amendment survives another brush with the false dignity of the powerful.

    --
    Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    1. Re:Also related by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is that a 'happy ending'? These people are only alleged to have committed a crime. Some of them may yet be found innocent of the charges. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Now their names are forever tarnished by association to this case.

    2. Re:Also related by Tailhook · · Score: 2

      innocent until proven guilty

      You have conflated The Press with the justice system. Presumption of innocence applies to law and the prosecution of citizens. The Press suffers no such inhibitions. About the only limit the Press must observe is slander. The Press is not a court, the press operates no jails, the press seizes no property or serves any warrants.

      As for the supposed 'tarnish' suffered; empowering the state to hide evidence from The Press is certain to be abused to protect powerful criminals. This is the greater evil.

      --
      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
  43. Justice isn't justice either. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course it is, that is how the entire justice system works presently:

    1) some dude kills someone
    2) he is caught
    3) named, shamed, imprisoned by the public (I say public, a random set of usually moronic people with the IQ of 5 rocks, even 5 might be generous)
    4) family: "yeah he gets what he deserves, let him rot and die so nobody else has to suffer his evil ways!"
    5) suffers prison and a lengthy time getting his own life back in order
    6) ends up being a criminal again since prisons don't do shit to reform people

    If anything, the justice system of today is worse than lynching. Even if they get the wrong guy, it'll still put off more than 90% of people from doing a crime. (more so today, people are far more scared of being caught for serious things especially because it is so much easier to find people)
    Whereas even if a innocent person gets put in prison, often times they end up turning bad as well, or even get killed.
    Innocent people get imprisoned to fuck and back all the time. And the crap they suffer most times in these prisons is worse than death.
    And when people get away with things all the time, when MURDERERS get off free in an absolutely tiny time compared to the times people who download a fucking song who get stupid sentences and fines, yeah, no, fuck that. The justice system is shit. (note, speaking mainly of the US, other countries actually spend the money and time to reform people instead of throwing them in the trash)

    Things like this happen literally ALL the time. Police don't do shit, so communities get together and take care of their business their own ways.
    Groups of parents, friends, whatever, all of them get together if it means solving a "problem."
    And it happens far more than you think. It isn't just something that "happens on da TV!", it actually does happen.
    Anyone who actually has a life and speaks to people will know this. (unless they live in fancy land where no crime exists)
    And the funny thing is it was this lack of policing that resulted in Lynch Mobs in the first place. The people taking care of their own problems.
    History is never without a sense of irony. It is doomed to repeat itself. It is literally a rule it cannot stray from.

    1. Re:Justice isn't justice either. by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Things like this happen literally ALL the time.

      I do not think that means what you think it means.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    2. Re:Justice isn't justice either. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am sure he does. I for one do.

    3. Re:Justice isn't justice either. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But it does happen all the time. So it's not figurative. It actually does literally happen all the time.

      You sir, are guilty of over-correction.

  44. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Treat your religion like your penis. Don't whip it out every chance you get, and please don't jam it down my throat.

    And particularly please don't traumatize kids with it.

  45. Re:It's all tied together by Nadaka · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Its a lot easier to be moral when you don't have to follow the teachings of stone age goat diddling, child molesting, genocidal maniacs aka Christians, Muslims and Jews. Read the bible sometime, see the sick and twisted shit that they worship.

  46. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm pretty sure you don't need to believe in God to consider rape and murder unethical, immoral, and just wrong.

    Pretty much. If fear of God is all that keep you you from doing bad things then you are not a good person.

  47. Re:It's all tied together by couchslug · · Score: 1

    Superstition which relies on guilt to control people NEEDS them to do many things ("sins") for it to leverage.

    Superstitionists refuse to PROVE their Sky Fairie exists, so those accepting their definitions of "sin" are just taking their word for it.

    --
    "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  48. Re:It's all tied together by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 1

    As is usually the case, religion is simply the vehicle by which cultural values are expressed. About three quarters of sexually liberal Sweden would be Christian. In this case the moratorium on female nipples comes from a desire to control rather than any particular piety. What exactly is being controlled I leave as an exercise for the reader to determine.

  49. Re:It's all tied together by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 4, Informative

    (Judges 21:10-24 NLT)
            So they sent twelve thousand warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children. "This is what you are to do," they said. "Completely destroy all the males and every woman who is not a virgin." Among the residents of Jabesh-gilead they found four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

    (Numbers 31:7-18 NLT)
            They attacked Midian just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed all the men. All five of the Midianite kings â" Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba â" died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. They burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. After they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, they brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community of Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.

            Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the people went to meet them outside the camp. But Moses was furious with all the military commanders who had returned from the battle. "Why have you let all the women live?" he demanded. "These are the very ones who followed Balaam's advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the LORD at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the LORD's people. Now kill all the boys and all the women who have slept with a man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.

    (Deuteronomy 20:10-14)
              As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.

    ---

    Oh yea.... religion is really against rape except for young women who are untouched by man.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  50. Re:It's all tied together by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    (Zechariah 14:1-2 NAB)
            Lo, a day shall come for the Lord when the spoils shall be divided in your midst. And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle: the city shall be taken, houses plundered, women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be removed from the city. (Zechariah 14:1-2 NAB)

    I'm probably being unfair. This religion only represents about 1/6 of the worlds population and is the likely religion of the parent poster. There are probably many religions which are actually against rape.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  51. Re:It's all tied together by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This rape is commanded and approved by the deity and major priests.

    Don't get me started on what they do to "suckling babes" who don't follow the religion. It's not pretty. The character Yahweh is one evil, psychotic, amoral, sadistic, narcissitic bastard and/or he considers humans to be about as important as we consider ants. I have no problem kicking over an ant hill.

    Then again, I don't talk to them and control their affairs on a personal basis either.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  52. Re:It's all tied together by ClioCJS · · Score: 1

    I'd really want to take a weighted average, where how christian you are comes into play. There are people who say they are a religion, and there are people who take that religion very seriously. I'd think the Christians here are more, uhm... "Christiany"... than over there. Maybe evangelical is the word I'm looking for, but maybe not. Halp.

    --
    -Clio
    Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
    Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
  53. Re:Anyone else having a hard time feeling sorry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You forget that, you know, most cases that are related to the Internet get more air time because, you know, we have to regulate the Internet. Or maybe I'm just putting two things together when they are not related. No matter, it never stopped conspiracy theorist before, why should it stop me?

    Thing is, suicide isn't that bad. I mean, you die. If you're smart, you die painlessly. Afterwards? That's up to debate. Probably you won't feel anything. Certainly, you'll be better than before -- no one else will bully you, that's for sure. Those that live on, however, those have a hard time ahead. They have to deal with the mental damage* they suffered. They are not going to forget it. The same way you don't forget somebody who died, nor do soldiers forget war (and the horrors associated with it).

    Overall I think parent comment has a good point. Even if it wasn't a random guy. In today's society, you just don't go around exposing yourself. If you do, well, I just hope you have an titanium will to stand your ground and resist all attacks.

    And remember: information is power. Knowing what dangers you're exposing yourself to is important.

  54. Re:It's all tied together by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 2

    Raises a good point though... Facebook was hosting/linking to child porn for an extended period, and letting people comment on it. Facebook is located in the US.

  55. Re:Anyone else having a hard time feeling sorry? by Dr+Herbert+West · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that it's been a while since you've been a teenage girl. At that age peer/parental/community pressure can seem like the most crushing, overwhelming burden to ever exist in the history of the planet. This is what makes what this guy (allegedly) did so repellent-- taking advantage of those who are more emotionally vulnerable, impulsive, and irrational than they ever will be in their lives.

    Sure, "you own your own actions", etc, but for some of these kids the internet is their entire community or peer group, it is much more difficult to shrug off.

    It's amazing what a few years out of high school will do to restore one's perspective-- don't kill yourselves, kids, it really does get better!

  56. Re:It's all tied together by LordLucless · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's not Christianity; that's Puritanism, which is (or was) a distinct sect within Christianity, heavily influenced by asceticism, which is a non-religious philosophy. Americans probably have a higher correlation between Christianity and Puritansim, as many of their initial settlers were Puritans getting the hell out of England, but it's still a false equivalency. It's like saying that all atheists believe life came about due to extra-terrestrial contact, just because Erich von Däniken is an atheist.

    --
    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
  57. Re:It's all tied together by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 1

    Are they more Christian or simply more evangelical about exporting their cultural values wherever possible though, spreading their sphere of control? While its true that religion influences culture, to a great extent the opposite is true as well. Even within Catholicism, ostensibly a single bloc, the rites for saying mass and attitudes of the clergy can vary wildly from country to country.

  58. My daughter was murdered.... by Bomarc · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Just over a year ago, my daughter was murdered. I was told initially, that it was suicide. Then I was told it was a bad accident. I was threatened by the police not to investigate it, or I would be charged with obstruction. Through some irregularities with her brief hospital satay, I was presented with facts that do not add up. So, I started asking the police some questions. Quickly, they stopped answering, and then lied about their responses.

    I’m not just another father grieving over his suicide daughter. For those that I’ve talked to about it I just barely get into the details (19 bruises, lack of GSR, plans for the next few days – and so very much more) and I’m asked if he is still being held in prison. My answer is no: They ‘interviewed’ him twice for a total of 60 minutes, and let him leave the state. Rose was murdered in a small county, with a sheriff that refuses to investigate (or respond). I (we) cannot afford to hire a private investigator, or a PR company. The ‘big city’ news agencies will not return phone calls. How does one motivate a lazy, small hick down, with a lying sheriff to do the right thing? I know that they cannot afford to do a full “CSI” stile investigation, but dam, get the evidence that has been there for over a year. Talk to witnesses that were with her that day. Keep in reasonable contact with the family

    Perhaps piggy back on another story, in hope that someone will be able to render some assistance?
    Part of the story can be found here - Remember Rose French

    1. Re:My daughter was murdered.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My condolences to you for the loss of your child but I get the feeling there was a lot more going on in her life than is stated.

    2. Re:My daughter was murdered.... by Bomarc · · Score: 0

      There is. But I'm not a writer. I can point out the facts, but articulation is not my specialty. How to say that there is no GSR (or stippling powder burns) on her... anywhere? Or a burn mark on the entrance wound? Or that the bullet trajectory doesn't work? Or that the police won't perform luminal tests? Or that the police have not questioned the person in the room at that time? Or that a revolver / .22 sounded like a cap gun when it went off? Or that he left the state the next morning? (and that he didn't say around for the memorial service, that afternoon?) Or that the bullet is typical for a shot of about two feet away? Or that there is an unexplained blood stain? Or that he refused to render first aid? The list goes on and on. I've talked to three people so far in detail, and to outline ... just the key parts - questions takes about two hours. Yet most of the questions could be answered if the police were to investigate.

    3. Re:My daughter was murdered.... by Maow · · Score: 1

      Just over a year ago, my daughter was murdered.

      Condolences!

      Perhaps piggy back on another story, in hope that someone will be able to render some assistance?

      If that's what it takes, then yes.

      I wish I had more to offer.

      Part of the story can be found here - Remember Rose French

      I have that open in another tab and shall read it at a later time.

      Best of luck.

    4. Re:My daughter was murdered.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope this doesn't come off as too callous. It's just an attempt from one tiny cog in the giant viral-meme generating machine that is the Internet to elucidate its reaction to reading your post and taking a second to look at your site and do a google. The executive summary is that you need to do a much better job of pointing out salient facts.

      Your writing bounces all over the place and it's way too hard to piece a coherent story together from it. Above, for example, you say "19 bruises" with no indication if they were on you or on her. Then, another character suddenly appears - "I'm asked is he is still in prison.." What? Who's he? If you want - and you seem to want - a full investigation by entities responsible for investigating things or if you want a personal army to spontaneously rise and rain an irresistable tidal wave of motivating hate upon them to do their jobs, you're going to have to be a lot more coherent than this. Don't assume that anyone reading anything has even heard a fragment of your story before. You're also probably going to want to address this up front somehow, because it's pretty much the first thing returned by a google: http://florida.arrests.org/Arrests/Roseann_French_1963876/ That could be why McDermott's office wouldn't touch it. On your site you blindside the reader with something about how you heard from the cops that Diane, whoever she is, isn't allowed to use "the burning barrel"... Whaaa? You can't possibly be deliberately trying to induce a vision of someone named Diane burning anything related to this story in a barrel in your back yard, but that's the first thing that popped into my head. It does not help.

      Viral memes are unbelievably powerful. The Internet has demonstrated time and time again that it can move mountains. However, any particular individual's chances of engineering a catalyst to spawn something that will do what he would like it to are slim to none, especially if they are not totally on their game and their cause-du-jour takes more than about 5 seconds to elucidate. Condense. Edit. Study the catalysts of other memes. Hone your PR and communication skills. Disassociate from the pain and loss that you feel, because eliminating anything that's not relevant to someone else (nobody cares what *you* think of some character like a sheriff, the only thing that matters is what *they* think after scanning a story) is critical to effective communication. Personally, I'd never publically say anything bad about the cops (that could turn off any who might be considering helping you) and I would try to establish communication with some sex worker advocacy groups because they are people who have some experience with the difficulties of getting fair and equal investigative efforts for those who are unjustly viewed as second-class citizens by a lot of the people whose jobs it is to investigate crimes.

      I can't even imagine, Sir. I would be in utter livid agony if it were my child. I sincerely wish you the best of luck with getting the death of your daughter fully investigated. - AC

  59. Re:It's all tied together by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    b) if a girl shows her breasts, she is a slut and a whore and should be ashamed of herself and do whatever it takes to have no one find out about it,

    More generally, I'm also perplexed by the social double-standard where men who have (had) multiple sex-partners (or are sexually aggressive, for lack of a better word) are "studs", but women are "sluts". Seems like a bunch of misogynistic bullshit from insecure men to make women feel second-rate. (I'm a guy, by the way.)

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  60. Re:It's all tied together by ClioCJS · · Score: 1

    I should just make it more general and say religionists.

    --
    -Clio
    Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
    Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
  61. What happened by gtcodave · · Score: 0

    Since when has evidence collected by a private individual/organisation ever been ignored by a court of law or legal party what such evidence can be verified as conclusive?

    Read the question: since when..?

    --
    -- David
  62. Re:It's all tied together by Rockoon · · Score: 5, Funny

    More generally, I'm also perplexed by the social double-standard where men who have (had) multiple sex-partners (or are sexually aggressive, for lack of a better word) are "studs", but women are "sluts".

    Women call women who sleep around sluts. Men just call them.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  63. For justice to work, it has to work. by Teunis · · Score: 1

    As much as the Vancouver area, and British Columbia in general are beautiful places, with many wonderful people - justice here isn't entirely working. Whether it's our somewhat US leaning government on the other side of the continent messing with the codes, or that BC economically crashed at the end of the 80s thanks to US interference ... things basically aren't perfect.
    If you keep cutting police and keep increasing their load, coincident with cutting education and increasing their load too - no one has any time left anymore unless there's overwhelming evidence. ... and thanks to Anonymous, there's now sufficient evidence for the authorities to investigate.

    I've known people who've been harassed the same ways, and justice was not found. ... and people continue to bully, harass and even sexually assault the same kinds of ways.
    and we all let it happen, or even do it ourselves.
    I hope they've got the guy who started it.
    They're not going to touch the hundreds of people at her schools that bullied because of it - probably.
    maybe they'll make it easier to find and rescue victims before it's too late. And some justice beats none.

  64. Re:It's all tied together by war4peace · · Score: 1

    He never forgot porn. But you can't blame your own god, can you? Oh wait...

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  65. Re:It's all tied together by fredprado · · Score: 1

    This idea has complex social and biological origins and is not totally absurd. Men and Women are quite different in some things, even though they are quite alike in many others.

  66. Re:Anyone else having a hard time feeling sorry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually I'm not, because if I were in that age range today, I would probably be someone who was bullied. I say this because when I was in Middle/High school I was bullied. The way I tried to cope with this was to essentially try to "blend in to the woodwork" and not draw attention to myself to this day. Obviously based on you remark, you were on the other side of that situation.

  67. The presumption of innocence & vigilantism by CmdTako · · Score: 1

    As Supreme Court Justice Byron White said. You don't need the presumption of guilt, To be just punishment only need to dished out "when he concludes that his interests require ... and the record strongly indicates guilt." e.g.The Edublogs site went dark for about an hour after its hosting company, ServerBeach, pulled the plug. The hosting firm was responding to a copyright claim from publisher Pearson, which said one blog had been illegally sharing information it owned.

  68. an eye for an eye... by swschrad · · Score: 1

    seems like terrorism, rape, and 1st degree murder charges are in order. and if they don't come down quickly, heck, then maybe we don't need the authorities involved at all... .

    --
    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
    1. Re:an eye for an eye... by zlives · · Score: 1

      the term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents;
      rape and murder also fail
      however

      Luring a Child (section 172.1) - no person may use a computer system, such as the Internet, to communicate with a young person for the purpose of facilitating the commission of a sexual or abduction offence against that young person. This offence is sometimes called "Internet luring". The penalty for this offence is a maximum of 10 years imprisonment;

    2. Re:an eye for an eye... by zlives · · Score: 1

      and oh good luck once in jail

    3. Re:an eye for an eye... by Eunuchswear · · Score: 1

      the term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets

      Reasonable

      by subnational groups or clandestine agents;

      Huh?

      Where does that add-on come from?

      How does the nature of the perp change the crime?

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    4. Re:an eye for an eye... by zlives · · Score: 1

      Title 22, Chapter 38 of the United States Code

    5. Re:an eye for an eye... by AlterEager · · Score: 1

      Ah, the US government gave itself a get out of jail free card.

      Shock and awe!

    6. Re:an eye for an eye... by zlives · · Score: 1

      yup no nation can commit terrorism just support it :)

  69. Re:Anyone else having a hard time feeling sorry? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    But does she really have anyone to blame but herself? Seriously, some random guy on the Internet asks her to show her tits and she does it?

    I'd be more inclined to blame the society that would make her (or teach her to be) afraid and ashamed of her behavior. I know she was a minor, but it was her body and, in a more ideal world, she should have felt more comfortable, saying to anyone and everyone, "ya, I show him my breasts, now fuck off."

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  70. Re:It's all tied together by MachDelta · · Score: 0, Troll

    A key that opens many locks is a master key. A lock that can be opened by many keys is a shitty lock.

    Not saying I agree with it, but the analogy fits fairly well.

  71. Vigiliantism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anonymous acted as a vigilante. There is a reason that vigilantism is illegal in most places on planet Earth. The reason is that the vigilantes will, in general, not be as impartial as the legal system. The vigilante has no accountability, which naturally leads to abuse. The vigilante is unknown, which means you have no idea what agenda they may have.

    One can gripe about law enforcement as much as one wants, and it certainly is not perfect, and one can certainly point to situations where it has not worked as well as it should but vigilantism leads to a much worse situation much more often. Throwing out law enforcement because it is imperfect leads to a worse situation than the imperfect law enforcement. The solution is to work on improving law enforcement, not throwing society to the wolves.

    1. Re:Vigiliantism by PPH · · Score: 1

      Anonymous acted as a vigilante.

      I'm not certain this is true. While Anon did go beyond the (accepted) practice of an informant providing information to the authorities, (s)he did not carry out any punishment or retribution.

      The man himself has now been threatened online by others vowing to carry out vigilante justice, a development that worries Vancouver defence lawyer Eric Gottardi.

      Yeah, right. A defense lawyer. What would you expect from the, "My client is innocent" crowd. Perhaps the suspect needs to turn himself over to the police, tell them his story and let them either charge him or possibly clear his name (mistakes do happen). No acts of vigilantism have been carried out. Yet. But now there's political pressure for the police to do something about it, one way or the other.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    2. Re:Vigiliantism by neminem · · Score: 1

      Did you watch this week's Dexter? A little bit scary to say, but it kind of had a point.

    3. Re:Vigiliantism by geekoid · · Score: 1

      "What would you expect from the, "My client is innocent" crowd. "
      ?? So being blamed equals guilt and people wanting to defend there innocent are wrong to do so? Are you stupid?

      " No acts of vigilantism have been carried out"

      Yes they have. Vigilante doesn't just mean violent punishment.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  72. Re:It's all tied together by DragonTHC · · Score: 2

    In no way is tricking a child into such a thing acceptable by any definition. Children must be protected from all of society and sometimes from their own parents. Society never rejected morality. The Internet is not society. Nor is society found in the Internet. It is its own culture. In spectacular opposition to meatspace, here the extreme tend to gain the most attention. In the faceless rabble, there be dragons.

    Despite the past missteps by anonymous, there is good work done and more to do. There's no place in either society for those who hurt children. Among us all on the Internet, hides the vilest vipers whose second worst aspect is their anonymity. If the faceless rabble spits them into the pit where they belong, is it different than any other self-correcting society?

    --
    They're using their grammar skills there.
  73. Re:It's all tied together by retchdog · · Score: 1

    good point.

    shit like this has always happened, it's just that now it doesn't stay behind closed doors and isn't covered up with "he needed killing"-vigilante justice. also, the internet has the power to turn anything that happens in the entire world into lurid sensationalism.

    --
    "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
  74. Re:It's all tied together by CrazyDuke · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wonder how people would feel if they realized that, agnostic to the possibility of a deity existing, their "god" likely isn't much more than a warped internalization of their parents ... kind of the adult version of an imaginary friend.

    Thus making religion a manifestation of something along the lines of the sense of security of the family, the anxieties of growing up, and the fear of encountering dangers outside of the family, etc...

    Basically, people like the sense of familiarity and try to maintain some semblance of it into adulthood so they feel more secure and sure of themselves. It gets spooky when you realize that that sense of familiarity is frequently not the positive kind.

    This is usually where I get accused of being atheistic...

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced influence is indistinguishable from control.
  75. i blame god/church/religion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    isn't morality the actual problem... if she was "amoral" and didn't care that society would shun her because of their puritanical belief system, wouldn't have bothered her at all.

    1. Re:i blame god/church/religion by aicrules · · Score: 1

      Yes and if everyone was amoral then no one would care if anyone was raping and murdering everyone in sight. But what a great idea....

  76. Re:It's all tied together by LordLucless · · Score: 1

    Asceticism (the belief that pleasure, of which sex and sexuality is a subset, is evil/wrong/unhelpful) is not exclusively a religious philosophy. There are plenty of ascetic atheists.

    --
    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
  77. Manslaughter by jbolden · · Score: 1

    These suicide / harassment cases keep happening. I think the black letter law is adequate to prosecute for manslaughter in these cases: i.e. criminal but not felonious actions that result in a death but where death was not a likely outcome. But since prosecutors seem iffy to just apply manslaughter charges, just have black letter law to make it explicitly apply.

  78. how many kids have smartphones/tablets? by Chirs · · Score: 1

    Your sarcastic tone is not exactly helpful. If someone wants to be sneaky they'll find a way to do it. Back in the day they'd pretend to go to sleep then sneak out the bedroom window. Nowadays they can use their phone, or a friend's phone, or tablet, or whatever. If they don't have a dataplan there's free wifi all over.

    Basically you cannot hope to totally control a kid once they get to this age...all you can do is be there, be attentive, and hope that you've done a good enough job parenting to cover the times when they're on their own.

    1. Re:how many kids have smartphones/tablets? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your sarcastic tone is not exactly helpful. If someone wants to be sneaky they'll find a way to do it. Back in the day they'd pretend to go to sleep then sneak out the bedroom window. Nowadays they can use their phone, or a friend's phone, or tablet, or whatever. If they don't have a dataplan there's free wifi all over.

      Basically you cannot hope to totally control a kid once they get to this age...all you can do is be there, be attentive, and hope that you've done a good enough job parenting to cover the times when they're on their own.

      Spoken like the parent of a spoiled kid that can't control be controlled.

      Here's what a REAL parent does:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl1ujzRidmU

  79. Re:It's all tied together by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    This idea has complex social and biological origins and is not totally absurd. Men and Women are quite different in some things, even though they are quite alike in many others.

    Ya, I get that, but the concept is obsolete, especially if you accept that women have (or should have) control over their own bodies and that men should respect women as equals. Both sexes have responsibility for their actions and the consequences of those actions.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  80. Yes "tougher on ___" by gatfirls · · Score: 1

    Has always worked so well in the past. Let's just look at the lower rates of everything we are exceptionally tough on: [insert infinity "loading" circle here]

  81. when's the cutoff point? by Chirs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    My 2yo and 3yo sons regularly bite/scratch/beat on each other. In adults this would be assault and battery (possibly even aggravated assault). Are you proposing that they should go to jail?

    1. Re:when's the cutoff point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, he is not doing any such thing. And just in case this wasn't a lame strawman, I'll consider you to be an actively guilty party if they do that at 12 and 13 to other kids in school and you have this same attitude. Does that make the difference clear?

    2. Re:when's the cutoff point? by Rudeboy777 · · Score: 0

      Speaking as a parent of a child bullied in first grade, the cutoff is not much older than your boys' ages right now. I hope you're punishing their behaviours appropriately. They're already old enough to know better.

      --

      From hell's heart I fstab at /dev/hdc

    3. Re:when's the cutoff point? by rohan972 · · Score: 1

      For children, parents are the government, being sent to your room or grounded or other similar punishment is jail. Yes, they should be punished and taught not to do it as early as possible. I would regard your sons age as appropriate for making a start, it doesn't happen quickly though.

      My own boys learn ju-jutsu. They are not allowed to use force to settle verbal arguments, ever. They are not allowed to attack people. If they want to physically fight they have to follow the rules as a sport or be defending themselves.

      Fighting is a good skill for a child to learn but they should learn it according to civilized rules, not be adopting the behaviour of thugs.

    4. Re:when's the cutoff point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps you as the parent should be teaching your children from infancy that such behavior is not acceptable. Or is it OK for them to beat up on each other, or anybody else they feel like, on into high school, where it's OK to bully, harass and rape just because "boys will be boys"? Biting? Scratching? Come on, what are you raising, potential members of human society, or kittens?

      - parent of three reasonably civilized now-grown men

    5. Re:when's the cutoff point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you comparing 16 year olds to 2 year olds? I'm starting to believe you might have the development of a 2 year old...

    6. Re:when's the cutoff point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My 2yo and 3yo sons regularly bite/scratch/beat on each other. In adults this would be assault and battery (possibly even aggravated assault). Are you proposing that they should go to jail?

      Reductio ad absurdum. Most of the worst bullying takes place in middle school and high school. At that age kids know that constantly tormenting and assaulting the weaker kids is wrong. They might not understand their motivations for doing so, in which case they should ordered to see a therapist and maybe do some community service. Simply doing nothing when kids torture other kids and justifying it with an attitude that "kids will be kids" or that they don't have full control of their facilities is nothing more than sweeping the problem under the rug. That kind of attitude, combined with no real consequences for bullying, is what leads to situations like school shootings.

    7. Re:when's the cutoff point? by BeanThere · · Score: 1

      Thanks, I was about to post that that was just a lame strawman. It's not even worthy of a response.

    8. Re:when's the cutoff point? by BeanThere · · Score: 1

      On re-read, I see I even wrote "teens" in my original post, it wasn't even ambiguous ... so Chirs is actually probably just trolling.

    9. Re:when's the cutoff point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Generally 10-12 years old, depending on your jurisdiction. If they are still regularly biting, scratching, and beating each other by that age they could indeed be sent to juvie. If you can't be bothered to learn that much, you're probably also going to be surprised when your kids end up in juvie, to no surprise to anyone around you.

    10. Re:when's the cutoff point? by robsku · · Score: 1

      No, you're right of course - they should be totally not punished for any of that until they are 18, after which everything changes and they are fully formed adults.

      --
      In capitalist USA corporations control the government.
  82. Re:It's all tied together by ohnocitizen · · Score: 1, Redundant

    False. Counter Examples: Rush Limbaugh, Ultra Orthodox Men, Russian Official, and so on.

  83. Re:It's all tied together by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Funny

    A key that opens many locks is a master key. A lock that can be opened by many keys is a shitty lock.
    Not saying I agree with it, but the analogy fits fairly well.

    /. Dating Tip #67: Don't use that analogy with a date / girlfriend - ever.

    [ And I would avoid using the phrase "master key" in most dating situations. ]

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  84. Re:It's all tied together by tnk1 · · Score: 1

    Do we think any of this actually had to do with religion, or it's lack? It had to do with the dominance seeking instincts of teens. Kids are cruel and can be this way because they don't fully understand what they are doing. They assume that because they never will expose their boobs, or they can't, that something like this can never affect them. That's the only reason why this happens.

    Kids are jerks, and they have never needed religion to be so. Probably some of the tormentors were atheists, some were religionists and probably more of them just don't even care one way or another. The only reason this happens is because kids are kids and parents don't take responsibility for making sure that their children aren't little assholes.

  85. Re:It's all tied together by ewibble · · Score: 2

    Belief in God (or at least stating you believe e.g. Priests) doesn't seem to stop people doing bad things either. How does that even work in a religion where you can repent/confess and all your sins are forgiven.

    Here is one way to logic not doing bad things without God, maybe not perfect. If you do bad things then you will think of yourself as a bad person, then will feel bad about yourself, that will make you unhappy, so don't do it. If you do good things then you will feel good about yourself and you will be happier. Kind self enforced karma. It seems to be true, there are studies that show doing nice things for others makes people happier than buying things for themselves. Ref http://www.livescience.com/2376-key-happiness-give-money.html. Another theory (no real proof) if you are nice you tend to think other people are nice (they may or may not be) but then you assume they aren't trying to be mean to you so you are happier.

    In the end you can convince yourself of anything, if you try hard enough, God or no God it probably depends more on the person you are than the religious beliefs you hold.

  86. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No... because without his invisible man in the sky, he would have no morals.

    That kind of person scares me. What happens if they ever lose their faith? They'll turn into raping, murdering lunatics since God was the only thing keeping them decent.

    "Anything done out of fear has no moral value"

  87. Re:It's all tied together by bigtrike · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You're right, I probably wouldn't believe whatever you tell me about that.

  88. Re:Anyone else having a hard time feeling sorry? by JosephTX · · Score: 1

    you can't seriously be blaming a middle-school kid for being manipulated and subsequently tormented by a 32-year-old psychopath.

  89. Re:It's all tied together by ClioCJS · · Score: 1

    There are girls without boobs too, but I'm still gonna say that girls usually have them and that's where they tend to be (despite some guys having boobs). Catch my drift?

    --
    -Clio
    Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
    Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
  90. Bullying??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK....forgive my ignorance. When I first heard about this case, I thought they were talking about a girl being bullied at school. How could she possibly be bullied by a 32 year old guy living in another city? If he was stalking her on facebook, couldn't the problem have been solved by deleting her facebook account?

  91. Re:It's all tied together by fredprado · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I do advocate total freedom to everyone regarding their bodies and I will be the first one defending that idea, but the labels you were talking about are not laws or any kind of denial of rights. Women do have the right in most modern cultures of having as many partners they want, as they should.

    But what we are talking about here is perception, how humans see individuals of both sexes that engage in "promiscuity", for lack of a better word. That has not only social roots as biological roots. Men do not and will probably never see a promiscuous woman as a desired partner, because instinctively we want them to carry our genes and not somebody else's. Women on the other hand will always carry their own genes, and so they instinctively look for other things in their partners, usually strength and dominance, which are usually traits of men disputed by many women, thus making male promiscuity actually instinctively attractive.

  92. Time Matters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Right now revealing that a person was investigated but not charged or convicted is somewhat novel and an unknowing public jumps to unwarranted conclusions. But if every case is public then people will quickly learned that the police mostly do interview innocent people. They may be looking for information about other parties or the person might be one of many suspects.
                    At this moment there is a very public case about men that used a certain prostitute. As she used hidden cams they have little that can defend them. Immediately we see people talking about the wives being hurt and especially the mens' children. But here is the catch. Making it public might save a wife from AIDS. And kids realizing that daddy was a two faced liar who would cheat anyone he could can be good for those kids as well. The delusion that daddy is a great guy and not knowing how things really go in this world creates a serious disability in judgments. One day one of that guy's daughters may have a husband that gets caught straying and she just might say,well men do that and not take it seriously or she might divorce the guy and sock it to him. But at least she has a yard stick of real human behavior to help her make judgments.

  93. Re:It's all tied together by LordLucless · · Score: 1

    Yes. Your drift is gross generalizations with poor analogies. Please continue.

    --
    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
  94. traditional conservative culture by circletimessquare · · Score: 0

    has precepts that disempower women and make them the virtual property of men

    i really don't see how liberalism empowers men who prey on women, especially since liberal culture is more closely identified with female empowerment

    this creep would be able to get away with abuse and bullying of girls and women in traditional conservative culture, and it would be accepted and swept under the rug. in fact, in traditional conservative culture, girls and women are often blamed for men's bad behavior, being temptresses, or some other blame the victim bullshit

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  95. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Facebook was hosting/linking to child porn for an extended period, and letting people comment on it.

    Accuse Mark Zuckerberg of paedophilia. Everybody win.

  96. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Socialism AND capitalism.

  97. Re:It's all tied together by circletimessquare · · Score: 0

    you're right. i wouldn't believe you. a woman in a drunk and weakened state, there do exist men will in fact take this as license to do whatever they want despite her protestations and think they can get away with it. not that there don't exist women who cry false rape, but this is and always has been the minority of situations as compared to men who rape. in other words: rape is real. so are false allegations of rape. but false allegations real instances by a lot if not an order of magnitude. so anyone talking about rape in general (rather than specific instances) who is more interested in all of the supposed false allegations: sketchy, very sketchy

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  98. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A good person is one who does good. A bad person is one who does bad.

    If you fail to take advantage of something that would better you as a person (e.g. prevent you from doing bad), how can you claim to be morally superior? Will the people harmed by the bad things you do agree?

  99. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Society's definition"... "liberalized culture"... "internet"... "morality"... "ethics"... "atheism"... "hippie generation"... wh... hey! HEY! BINGO! I GOT A BINGO HERE!

  100. Re:It's all tied together by ClioCJS · · Score: 1

    Your drift is you want to split hairs with all generalities because they are only mostly true. Banal pedanticism.

    --
    -Clio
    Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
    Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
  101. Re:It's all tied together by alexgieg · · Score: 1

    invisible man in the sky

    Which religion believes that?

    --
    Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
  102. Got the fucker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope his life is made a living hell. I can't imagine what kind of sick freak would harass a kid like that.

    He needs to be in jail for decades.

  103. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'll join in - I don't believe you either. Do you have anything other than your masturbatory fantasy from last night to base this on?

  104. Anonymous is Legion by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    as in the biblical concept of a plague of demons

    It is a phenomenon beyond anyone's control, and will be with us for sometime. As random as lightning strikes and just as easy to predict.

    It exists to focus destruction on various targets, guided by an atavistic desire for justice and revenge without form or substance, as determined by complete whim. It's basically mob hysteria on a permanent rampage, galumphing across the Internet and reaching out to the real world in unpredictable ways. It targets what it considers evildoers, but it does it in the same way a bull targets a matador in a china shop. It is what it is, a force without reason and guided by whim and emotion.

    As far as I can tell in terms of best approach to dealing with it, just stay the hell away from it and out of its path as best you can, and maybe as Internet and society continue to evolve together it will subside. Or get worse. Who knows.

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:Anonymous is Legion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If that were the worst of it, I'd agree with you. The problem with Anonymous is that I believe they can be manipulated by agents provocateur. Let's say you have a beef with J. Random Mutant parking in your reserved spot on Saturdays. You know that /b/tards loves them internet cats, and if someone hurts them they rain down mighty vengeance upon them. So you photoshop up a video of him lighting a cat on fire and laughing hysterically while it burns to death -- maybe you're so sick, you actually do it yourself and just photoshop him into the frames. Then you post it to Youtube from his buddy's wifi, and stand by and watch as the mob whips itself up into a frenzy.

      I'm not saying that anyone should try this at home, but mobs have historically long been (ab)used by smart people to do dirty jobs.

  105. Re:It's all tied together by ClioCJS · · Score: 1
    lol, nice trolling

    My statements apply to all ages. You do realize in nudist colonies, the children are naked too, right?

    --
    -Clio
    Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
    Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
  106. Re:It's all tied together by Loopy · · Score: 0

    It's all tied together. Society's rejection of morality and ethics leads to this. Atheism leads to this. The culture of consent and contraception, leads to this.

    Since when has religion had much to do with morality? It's about peer influence.

    You do realize that pointing out a fallacy of generalization (atheists are amoral) by committing another fallacy of generalization (theists are amoral) doesn't really help the point you're trying to make, right? Try simply pointing out holes in others' arguments and leave it at that. When you ascribe general motivations to individuals you obviously do not know or understand based on the vision others like you present in the media/intertubes, you end up exhibiting the weak-minded, peer-influenced, dogmatic thinking[sic] you seem to be complaining about in others.

    I'd suspect your counter-argument of being psychological projection but that would just be *cough* ad hominem *cough* as I don't know you or what values you hold dear. *hint*

  107. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You wouldn't believe how many women consider consensual one nighter as rape...

    And you wouldn't believe how many governments would use that as an excuse to extradite a whistle-blower.

  108. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are correct! If your partner is heavily inebriated, you should refrain from trying to have sex with him or her. Please, follow your fellow male/white supremacist's advice:

    Is she SOBER? Very inebriated women may claim to want or even demand sex, but it may be wise to see if "that was the alcohol talking".

    Has she verbally consented to sex? It is better to ask "Do you want to make love?" and receive a positive response then to merely assume she's consenting to sex via body language.

    During foreplay, or before or during coitus, does she 'tense up', act frightened or apprehensive? Does she cry?

    By following these simple rules, you too may avoid false legally culpable accusations! It won't help against accusations by people who are making up your sexual encounter entirely, but you aren't really worried about that, are you?

  109. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, technically, if she protested, then it wouldn't be what the original poster counts as "CONSENSUAL"

  110. Re:It's all tied together by ohnocitizen · · Score: 1

    Hahaha, judging by the modding on this and the grandparent - calling out sexism on slashdot = inviting downvotes.

  111. Re:It's all tied together by pregister · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They're not calling the women sluts because they had sex. They're calling the women sluts because they disagree with them, want to silence them, and character assassination often works.

    Aspersions about their sex habits are the tool, the motive is power.

  112. More Scare-mongering Rubbish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bullying is the '10's equivalent of '00's MySpace Pedophile scare at least, that's what I'm hoping.

  113. Re:It's all tied together by mdielmann · · Score: 1

    The only caveat I would add is to generally apply these rules to new or irregular partners. If your long-time girlfriend is drunk and interested in sex, I don't see a problem with it. It's still a good idea to talk to her about these things when she's sober, prior to the situation.

    --
    Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
  114. Re:It's all tied together by i286NiNJA · · Score: 1

    https://archiveofthebitingbeaver.wordpress.com/2008/05/31/the-rapist-checklist-repost/
    This is the viewpoint held pretty much 100% by radical feminists
    I went to a fairly liberal college and regularly got to hear how sex with drunk girls was the same as raping them.

    Then I thought about all the regrettable women that I'd slept with because I was drunk and wouldn't normally touch them with a 10 foot pole.. and how I was there, also the bad guy for not returning their calls.

  115. Re:It's all tied together by cold+fjord · · Score: 0

    Excuse me? Since when has religion had much to do with morality?

    I guess you've missed a few thousand years of history?

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Religion and Morality

    From the beginning of Western thought, religion and morality have been closely intertwined. This is true whether we go back within Greek philosophy or within Christianity and Judaism. The present article will not try to step beyond these confines, since there are other articles on Eastern thought. The article proceeds chronologically, giving greatest length to the contemporary period. It attempts to explain the main options as they have occurred historically. The purpose of proceeding historically is to substantiate the claim that morality and religion have been inseparable until very recently, and that our moral vocabulary is still deeply infused with this history. . . . More . . .

    ----

    The belief the is not god has been around long before then belief in any god.

    If we want to accept the assumptions here, I think it is much more likely there was no thought of God as opposed to thinking there was no god. Allow me to illustrate. At present, you are very unlikely to have an opinion about the subject I am going to introduce. Does it really exist or not? Is it good? Is it bad? Will I like it? Will I loath it? Why? Because you have no idea what I am talking about, there is nothing for your mind to engage on, to decide on. You have no opinion since you don't even know what I am talking about. The subject is a sort of fish dish. Well, now there is something more concrete - probably most people like some sort of fish, some don't. Now you have more to go on, the mind is working. Thoughts about fish are beginning to form. Many people who have had fish are thinking a special fish dish could be interesting, and even good. Perhaps it is a special type of tuna, yum! Ah, but this is indeed a special fish dish - a Scandinavian, really Swedish, specialty. It is herring! Oh, but this is silly, most people have heard of herring, many have tried it, so it must be good, and we know herring exists! Ah, but this is "special" herring - it is canned herring, a common thing, but with a difference. . . the cans are bulging. . . the fish is fermenting, which is a polite way of saying rotting. Ick! Nobody would eat rotting food, especially meat, especially fish! This must be a joke, there is no way that could be true, no way anyone could like it. And think of the danger of botulism. . . . So, do people eat it? true or not? First we didn't even know the subject and could make no judgments. Then we came to know more, and more, and now we need to decide, do Swedish people eat rotting herring? A little more information - when the cans are opened, it smells like a used diaper mixed with rotten egg and raw onion . So, opinions are forming and reforming, we know more and more, and now we must decide. . . do people really eat rotten fish that smells like a soiled diaper, rotten eggs, and raw onion? Or do they simply do what anyone else would do, realize their special snack which might have been a tasty treat has actually spoiled, is now contaminated with deadly toxins from the microbes, and now must be thrown away? The answer is, sane people throw it away, it is crazy to eat rotting meat. That is, unless you are Swedish, and the fish is Surströmming . In that case the can is opened outdoors, to be polite, and the fish is served on various types of flat bread with potatoes, a slice of onion or various other things, a glass of akvavit or beer, and enjoyed. (More

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  116. Re:It's all tied together by i286NiNJA · · Score: 1

    This is the dumbest answer to a question with a simple answer.
    It's men have to be chosen to have sex, women have to accept an offer. A man who sleeps with many women is presumably desirable, a woman who sleeps with many men is presumed to have low standards. Also many "slutty" girls seem to be full of mental problems, this is personal experience, I do realize it's not always the case but it's truer than I'd like.

  117. Re:It's all tied together by Genda · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The whole "Moral" conversation is a primate briar patch. Just whose definition of "Right" and "Wrong" are we going to use? Your Parents? Jesus? The Taliban? Jesus had no problem with slavery, it was a normal thing in the world of his time. Now its considered immoral, we do things today without a moments hesitation that would have earned someone an instant stoning in biblical times.

    Mostly what people do with morality is judge themselves as superior and others inferior. Leading to the whole I'm going to shove my gawd/beliefs/political view down your throat for your own good. So rather than trying to hang people in the Fun-House mirror that morality is, seeing as there is no "Morality" outside of human interpretation. It would behoove us to come up with something a little more utilitarian, and a wee bit less subjective.

    Personally, I vote for workability. This is something we can easily work on together as a society, and come up with objective measures and pragmatic goals inside of. We create a continuum from spitting on the sidewalk at one end to child rape (or pick you pet atrocity to place here) at the other. We look at workable solutions to the misanthrope who commits that act. For the unruly child we explain why we don't spit, and we help him curb his habit. For the child rapist, molester, abuser, we have a city, on an island. They will work hard there the rest of their lives. Because they have restitution to pay for as well as paying for the infrastructure that now houses them. Whatever is left over, is theirs and they can participate in leading otherwise useful and productive lives. What they give up, is the right to ever see another human being younger than they are and the gender of their sexual preference (so in a very real way, sex is no longer a part of their lives.) These people will be moved through their system like cattle, and be given many ways to lead useful lives. If they instead choose violence or hostility, at some point they'll earn the right to be returned to the carbon cycle. No prison. no hatred. No stigma. No judgement. Just action - reaction. You ever notice, nobody has a problem with gravity. We all have gravity wired by the time we're 2 years old. Workability should aspire to be like that. Simple, quick, compassionate, and resolute. You just remove the source of difficulty and treat people like human beings until they prove otherwise.

  118. Re:It's all tied together by psiclops · · Score: 1

    A good person is one who does good. A bad person is one who does bad.

    so if you were an actor and had to shoot someone in a scene, and i replaced your prop gun with a real loaded weapon so you shot them for real you would be a bad person?
    if someone's girlfriend tells them that they really like sex rough but in fact hate it and he has rough sex with her which she pretends to like yet really hates it. he is a bad person?
    if someone holds a gun to my head and threatens to kill me unless i give them all my money, then when i hand them over my money that makes me a good person?

    a good person is someone who does good - solely for the sake of being good.

    --
    i spent five minutes thinking and all i got was this crappy sig
  119. very insightful by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    that is the next step. manipulation. silver tongued demagogues have been manipulating mob psychology for millennia to all sorts of nefarious goals

    Anonymous will move from capricious force trying to work for justice without a head, to outright manipulated used tool

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  120. Not a suicide victim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only 'victims' of a suicide (if one actually wanted to be considered a victim) are those around the self-eliminationist that now have to deal with the fallout and funeral costs.

    It's harsh and insensitive. Life sucks, adapt.

  121. Re:It's all tied together by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

    being raped is no longer shameful but something for women to take pride in

    i'm supposed to behave and be diplomatic in my responses, but for anyone to form the thought you just wrote requires a special combination of being a fucking moron and a sick douchebag all in one neat steaming pile

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  122. Re:It's all tied together by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    I didn't suggest theists are amoral, I suggested there was no correlation.

  123. Re:It's all tied together by Genda · · Score: 1

    The reason they think that is because there are scumbags out there preying on drunk women, or slipping drugs in women's drinks. By the way, its not the number of women who think that, its the number of judges and prosecuting attorneys that think that and I hate to say Bubba, you're on the losing end of that conversation. A drunk woman can't legally consent to sex, therefore you're begging to end up in jail if you take one home. If you're unable to avoid getting stupid drunk, then you should probably avoid drinking in public because you could... accidentally rape someone, wake up with a transvestite, get killed crossing a highway, go to jail for DUI, kill someone with your car, get a disease, hopefully you're getting the point here. Dude, holster your thang, and do not fire it without proper warning and protection. To do less is at least irresponsible, and potentially criminal.

    Welcome to the 21rst century now step on please.

  124. The society is to blame by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    From TFA:

    A national child anti-exploitation group, cybertip.ca, says it received a tip almost a year ago about Todd.

    A concerned citizen contacted the organization last November to report that images of Todd were being circulated online, said spokeswoman Signy Arnason.

    "We did receive one report, and that was passed along to law enforcement as well as child welfare," Arnason said Monday. "It was not a report from her, but it was a report from a concerned citizen."

    So ... the girl was tormented by an adult who posted her topless images on seedy sites and that so-called "national child anti-exploitation group" got a tip and what they did?

    The spoke-woman claimed that they have passed that tip to the "law enforcement" as well as "child welfare".

    That was when that little girl was still being tormented by that sick adult, and what happened?

    Nothing !

    Neither the police nor the child welfare nor that "national child anti-exploitation group" did anything to protect the girl.

    She was so tormented, so helpless that she chose to end her life.

    Whose fault was it?

    The society !

    All of us have turned into zombies.

    When someone got tormented, we just did what we do - passing the buck.

    Like what that "national child anti-exploitation group" did.

    All they did was passing the buck to the police and then ... nothing.

    What's the use of having a "national child anti-exploitation group" when they don't do nothing??

    I'm not in any shape or form related to the anonymous but I do applaud what they have done in this case.

    They have done what the police, the child welfare system and the national child anti-exploitation group have all failed to do - to flush that sick motherfucker out in the open.
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:The society is to blame by tqk · · Score: 0, Troll

      Whose fault was it?

      Her parents.

      I mean, what were they thinking stuffing her up with such prudery that she came to believe her life was over once she'd bared her breasts and it became public? Cf. the British Royal family. They've done lots of far dumber things, recently even.

      If I were her dad, I'd have sat her down and told her, "Blow it all off. It don't matter, and they're all just jealous, or pervs. You be proud of yourself. Besides (lifts his shirt), look at me. I've got a chest and even nipples. Big deal. Now go play with your friends and don't worry about it. Stand tall girl. You've nothing to be ashamed of."

      I wish I could tell this to every kid entering puberty. Just stick it out, and when you get used to those hormones raging through you, you'll be able to handle it and will probably even enjoy it. It's just a phase we all go through. Hang in there. It won't be long now.

      Oh, and the next time you see that jerk, kick him right in his piss-pump, just so he'll never forget how stupid he was letting you get away.

      --
      "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
    2. Re:The society is to blame by Duhavid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What if they are wrong?

      --
      emt 377 emt 4
    3. Re:The society is to blame by Maow · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Whose fault was it?

      Her parents.

      I mean, what were they thinking stuffing her up with such prudery that she came to believe her life was over once she'd bared her breasts and it became public?

      What. The. Fuck?

      Her parents? I have heard nothing about them giving her grief when some asshole sent them, the kid's friends, and apparently teachers photos of the kid's boobs. They seemed to have been nothing but supportive.

      It was getting beaten up, blackmailed, bullied, and harassed across something like 3 schools and 2 homes and 2 or 3 years that seemed to have driven her over the brink.

      I've seen absolutely zero indication her parents were prudes nor that they didn't do everything they could to support her.

      And you say it's their fault for not being able to instill a sense of calm rationality on a lonely, depressed, desperate young teen when calm rationality is exactly what kids that age are known for not possessing?

      If I were her dad, I'd have sat her down and told her, "Blow it all off. It don't matter, and they're all just jealous, or pervs. You be proud of yourself. Besides (lifts his shirt), look at me. I've got a chest and even nipples. Big deal. Now go play with your friends and don't worry about it. Stand tall girl. You've nothing to be ashamed of."

      You think showing her your boobs would make things better?

      Oh, and she didn't have any friends, so "go play with your friends" is just going to rub that fact in.

      I wish I could tell this to every kid entering puberty. Just stick it out, and when you get used to those hormones raging through you, you'll be able to handle it and will probably even enjoy it. It's just a phase we all go through. Hang in there. It won't be long now.

      Oh, and the next time you see that jerk, kick him right in his piss-pump, just so he'll never forget how stupid he was letting you get away.

      She never met "that jerk" - he set up fake Facebook profiles, friended her peers while posing as a soon-to-be new student at their school, then turned them against her. And he sent them all pics of her flashing the web cam.

      And he's (if Anonymous is to be believed) ~30 years old, so he didn't "let her get away".

      I have never seen a +5 that was so far off the mark.

    4. Re:The society is to blame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are many facets to this story of which your are unaware.

      She made a video shortly before her death that is worth watching
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej7afkypUsc

    5. Re:The society is to blame by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 2

      What. The. Fuck?

      I have never seen a +5 that was so far off the mark.

      I too, had the same "Welcome To Facebook" moment after reading the reply.

      No, I didn't reply because I know, if I had replied, I might lost all sanity and include all sorts of cuss-words in my reply.

      It's not to say that the parents of the little girl are faultless, but then, placing the blames squarely at the parents is ... man, I'm at a loss of finding the right word to properly describe my disgust at this point.

      It's our society, it's the way we are treating each others, it's everything connected to we, the human entity --- the little girl's suicide is yet another example of how we've failed ourselves.
       
       
       
       

       

       
       
       
       
       

      --
      Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    6. Re:The society is to blame by loufoque · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I've seen absolutely zero indication her parents were prudes nor that they didn't do everything they could to support her.

      She said she was alone and had no one helping her. She called for help to random strangers on the Internet.
      Clearly, her parents were not helping her. They probably weren't even aware of her problems. The reason the girl didn't tell them is probably that she believed they wouldn't understand or be of any help, which is a sign of bad parent-child relationship.

      Clueless parents not able to connect with their children and help them in times or need are to blame.

    7. Re:The society is to blame by Maow · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I've seen absolutely zero indication her parents were prudes nor that they didn't do everything they could to support her.

      She said she was alone and had no one helping her.

      She said she "had nobody" and "needed someone" - she very likely meant a friend, as opposed to a parent. Even the most supportive parents aren't a substitute for a friend.

      She called for help to random strangers on the Internet.

      She seems to have told her story on the internet as a warning for others.

      Clearly, her parents were not helping her. They probably weren't even aware of her problems. The reason the girl didn't tell them is probably that she believed they wouldn't understand or be of any help, which is a sign of bad parent-child relationship.

      Clueless parents not able to connect with their children and help them in times or need are to blame.

      Clearly the only one clueless is you.

      While awaiting her father to pick her up from school, she was beaten up by a group of girls, and dumped in a muddy puddle. Her father found her laying in a ditch. Her parents and others received pictures from her web cam mistake. She moved schools 3 times, moved house twice I believe. She'd also OD'd too and spent time in the hospital, so they knew that.

      Her parents were aware of something going on. What else should they have done? Left the city? The province? Maybe, but they have Facebook in $other_city, $other_prov too - the perpetrator would've just followed her.

      Her mother said she'd been doing quite a bit better recently, up until *just* before her death, so they seemed quite involved.

      Every time something bad and/or embarrassing happened to you at that age, did you run to your parents? Wouldn't that have resulted in even more tormenting at school, "loufoque is a mommies boy", etc.?

    8. Re:The society is to blame by tqk · · Score: 2

      There are many facets to this story of which your are unaware.

      Yes, there are. I've been hearing about it for about a week, but have been trying to avoid it: i) she's gone, so I can't help her any longer. ii) I'm not a voyeur. iii) the full story will eventually come out. That's better than speculating. iv) ...

      Thx for the youtube link.

      Poor kid. Very, very sad.

      --
      "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
    9. Re:The society is to blame by YttriumOxide · · Score: 1

      Parent is NOT a troll (currently at -1 Troll at the time I post this)... it is an opinion that tends to be unpopular for some reason (I know, because of the flak I get for voicing the same opinion) but "Troll" != "Disagree".

      I intend on raising my daughter exactly this way. Hopefully she won't end up doing something dumb like posting her breasts online for all to see; but kids do dumb things, so I'm sure at some point I'll need to have a talk with her and the "hey, don't worry about it - they're all dickheads" approach is way better than her feeling shame to the extent that this girl did.

      --
      My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
      Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
    10. Re:The society is to blame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey look - Mr. "not-a-parent" is telling us ho to raise our kids! Lets all listen!

    11. Re:The society is to blame by Gr8Apes · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The fault is clearly with the perpetrator. Hopefully ANonymous got the right one, or they'll be guilty of the same thing that he's accused of as his life is probably close to over at the moment.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    12. Re:The society is to blame by Atzanteol · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What makes you think your daughter will, in her teens, rationally consider your words and think "yes, he's right?" It sounds like this girl was suffering from massive depression. If you think you could work against something like that by "just being nice" you're sadly mistaken. I'm not calling your parenting into question - just stating that there are things that are very much out of your control.

      --
      "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

      - Charles Darwin
    13. Re:The society is to blame by geekoid · · Score: 2

      The poster is self deluded and pretty damn clueless about child behavior. In 20 years he will be posting about how his daughter made all the wrong decisions, but it's not his fault becasue he talked to her and told her everyone is just dickheads.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    14. Re:The society is to blame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're misunderstanding the role of "watchdog" groups and notifying the "authorities". It's not the job to prevent it, because fulfillment of that goal will mean the dissolution of the watchdog group and the police investigating those crimes.

      It is in their best interest to make sure the problems they're trying to stop AREN'T stopped. The police's job isn't to stamp out crime, it's to make sure crime doesn't go above a certain tipping point where the public will come to action.

      Since there's vigilantism going on here, I expect that tipping point number to be revised slightly downwards, but if you expect everyone to do their jobs you're sorely mistaken. That's really the problem when you decide to oursource your own security.

    15. Re:The society is to blame by tqk · · Score: 1

      If you think you could work against something like that by "just being nice" you're sadly mistaken.

      I'm not a parent, but I think in that situation, I'd just try to hug her to death (figuratively). "It''s okay. Don't worry about it. It'll go away soon, before you know it. ..."

      Gahd, it must be hell to be a kid these days.

      --
      "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
    16. Re:The society is to blame by Atzanteol · · Score: 1

      I agree - that's a great first step. Reassuring her that she's loved. But if she's suffering from a mental disorder (such as depression) it won't likely be enough. Heck - even without depression that wouldn't be enough for most teenagers.

      It used to be that once you got away from the schoolyard you left the bullies behind to some extent. At least you could enjoy yourself with your family and hobbies. But being tormented on facebook, youtube, etc. allows tormentors to reach into your private world as well away from school.

      I feel for the girl. She was truly suffering alone.

      --
      "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

      - Charles Darwin
    17. Re:The society is to blame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is what I'm afraid of with Anonymous. They think they are Batman but Batman isn't real. Batman is a fictional character who has the superpower of always being right when it matters.

    18. Re:The society is to blame by tqk · · Score: 1

      Parent is NOT a troll (currently at -1 Troll at the time I post this) ...

      Still is. Sigh.

      Thx mon. If your daughter ever needs a dispassionate shoulder, mine's here for her. Does she want to learn perl programming? :-)

      --
      "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
    19. Re:The society is to blame by tqk · · Score: 1

      But being tormented on facebook, youtube, etc. allows tormentors to reach into your private world as well away from school.

      We need a new ethic for them. "Blow it off, kid! That !@#$ don't matter. That dipshit is on the other side of the world from you, and is just trying to get a rise out of you. Don't fall for it. Just stand tall."

      --
      "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
    20. Re:The society is to blame by Atzanteol · · Score: 1

      That doesn't work for everybody. Especially those with low self-esteem and/or depression. For some people ignoring things like this simply isn't an option. Somebody suffering from low self-esteem and/or depression doesn't hear good things - only bad. And those bad things resonate within their minds. All of it serves as a positive feedback loop for her own feelings of self-doubt. She can't stand up to people like this because she thinks they're right. She believes she is shit and that you're just lying to her when you tell her good things.

      And you might blame her for not being strong enough. But if somebody has a broken leg would you criticize them for not being able to walk?

      --
      "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

      - Charles Darwin
    21. Re:The society is to blame by YttriumOxide · · Score: 1

      What makes you think your daughter will, in her teens, rationally consider your words and think "yes, he's right?"

      While I can't guarantee that she will, I think she's more likely to if she's been raised with the attitude of brushing things off rather than taking them to heart.

      It sounds like this girl was suffering from massive depression.

      From watching the video of her holding up the cards; I'd say she was extremely depressed, however I'm NOT of the opinion that it was a medical depression caused by a chemical imbalance or so - it was a "justified" depression (as in, she was depressed because of the events that occurred. As opposed to, being depressed due to dopamine receptor problems; then bad situations happening to push her over the edge).

      So, assuming that's correct, had she had a totally different attitude towards the events, she wouldn't have taken it as badly.

      If you think you could work against something like that by "just being nice" you're sadly mistaken. I'm not calling your parenting into question - just stating that there are things that are very much out of your control.

      I don't disagree, but I wasn't advocating "niceness", I was advocating "not giving a crap".

      I was bullied pretty relentlessly as a kid. I was fat and weird (I have Asperger's (yes, diagnosed, unlike a lot of others who say that here on Slashdot)), and so was an easy target for the kids in a lot of ways. It wasn't just at school either. One common taunt was that I walked like I had a carrot up my arse; then someone put a carrot with a condom over it in to our letterbox.

      I think because of my Asperger's, I've had to learn about human behaviour differently to the way others do. Others seem to instinctively "get" interaction and behaviour; whereas I learned it by studying. I don't want to say I'm necessarily better, but I do think studying it the way I have gives some advantages - the natural system doesn't always seem to work as well as many people assume. Misunderstandings are common and so if everyone just acted like they had Asperger's and asked "could you explain the subtext of that?" more often, they'd likely have far fewer misunderstandings.

      The point of this in relation to the topic is that had this girl sat down and really tried to analyse the situation objectively, she probably wouldn't have ended up committing suicide. Yes, she flashed her tits to a stranger. Yes, he made them "public". That was a bad choice on her part; but objectively, not really a major problem and something that would've just gone away on its own in a short enough time (a few years). From looking at her story, the serious problems were caused by her reaction to these events - that is, the alcohol and drug abuse; the sleeping around; the getting beaten up for being a slut (related to the sleeping around, not the flashing of tits); and so on.

      --
      My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
      Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
    22. Re:The society is to blame by YttriumOxide · · Score: 1

      Thx mon. If your daughter ever needs a dispassionate shoulder, mine's here for her. Does she want to learn perl programming? :-)

      Being 18 months old right now, she's still working on "words" and "sentences" before we move on to programming ;) But if she does want to learn; her ol' Dad will be happy to teach her.

      --
      My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
      Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
    23. Re:The society is to blame by Atzanteol · · Score: 1

      The point of this in relation to the topic is that had this girl sat down and really tried to analyse the situation objectively, she probably wouldn't have ended up committing suicide.

      I believe you when you say you have aspergers....

      --
      "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

      - Charles Darwin
  125. Re:It's all tied together by viperidaenz · · Score: 1
    Morality has little to do with which, if any religion you follow.

    If we want to accept the assumptions here, I think it is much more likely there was no thought of God as opposed to thinking there was no god

    Is it unfair to assume before the concept of a God was ever thought of - the creator(s) of everything - there were other thoughts about where things came from?
    I fail to see how your fish rant is relevant

  126. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They could believe in a magical pink invisible unicorn living on mars for all I care. It's all the same to me.

  127. Re:It's all tied together by cheekyjohnson · · Score: 1

    You just make up your own little definition of rape and call everything you don't like "rape."

    --
    Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
  128. Re:It's all tied together by Darby · · Score: 0, Informative

    Which religion believes that?

    Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have believing that nonsense in spite of all facts opposing it and no facts supporting it as a fundamental tenet of their faith.

    That failure is known as "faith" in the religious sense.

    It is a critical aspect since they have nothing else to offer and had someone not long ago incorporated that meme as an essential aspect (well, plus murdering anybody who didn't agree) they all would have died out long ago.

    American fundie Christians take that failure of basic critical thinking skills as the only important thing in the whole nonsensical book of fairy tales.

    I'm not sure if your question was merely rhetorical, or if you are a {troll|idiot}.

  129. Re:It's all tied together by Darby · · Score: 0

    and how I was there, also the bad guy for not returning their calls.

    Assuming you've ever taken yourself in hand so to speak, did your penis give advance written consent?

    I thought not. Rapist.

  130. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're clearly not very Marxist if you think Atheism is to blame for the world's problems....

  131. Re:It's all tied together by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

    Morality has been tied to religion in the West, and defined it, for the overwhelming majority of people for thousands of years. Yes, you can have a moral system apart from religion, and there have been many fine, upstanding individuals who were atheists. But in the last 100 years, experience with officially atheist governments have not produced happy outcomes, by and large. Indeed, they have been terribly bloody.

    As to the concept of God, you help make my point: you cannot disbelieve in what you have not as yet conceived, the question would not even occur to you. How could it?

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  132. Re:It's all tied together by monkease · · Score: 1

    You wouldn't believe the lengths some men go to to fuck women who are crazy enough to call "rape" after a drunken hook-up...

  133. Re:It's all tied together by HiThere · · Score: 1

    Sorry, but check out St. Paul and some of the other pre-protestant christian saints. The psychosis isn't original to the Puritans. They weren't even close to being the worst.

    OTOH, you can even find similar beliefs among Buddhists and (I think) even Taoists. I've never encountered it among followers of Shinto, but I haven't known many. So blaming it on any particular religion isn't fair. It's better to say that it's a mental problem endemic among humans, and that certain social forms, among them certain religions, tend to foster it.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  134. Re:It's all tied together by eugene+ts+wong · · Score: 1

    So, do you agree that drunken sex should be illegal?

  135. Re:It's all tied together by HiThere · · Score: 1

    FWIW, I tend to see those who are sexually promiscuous as probably carriers of sexually transmitted diseases. Which are becoming increasingly hard to treat, as they become resistant to more and more antibiotics. I wonder why no vaccines have been developed.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  136. Re:Anyone else having a hard time feeling sorry? by the_bard17 · · Score: 1

    The problem isn't her showing her tits on the 'net. Obviously, she has no problem with some apparent stranger seeing her bare breasts.

    The problem lies with some asshole attempting to blackmail her into giving a peep show on the 'net by threatening to send the picture of her bare breasts to her family and friends. And then does so. That's the problem. If her dirty laundry hadn't been aired out to those closest to her, this would have been a non-issue. People's lives, careers, and families have been ruined over less.

    I'd argue that a great deal of fifteen year old girls don't have the emotional or mental capacities to cope with such a life altering event. Hence the suicide, instead of issuing a public apology and stepping down from political office, resigning their position, or taking earlier retirement.

  137. Re:It's all tied together by dbet · · Score: 1

    Fuck you, you fucking fuck.

    I had a better response, but this is all you deserve.

  138. I'm ecstatic Maxson's name is out, but... by tkprit · · Score: 1

    My problem is, he's a horrible person that needs to be shut down, but he's not why she suicided. At least, not the sole reason. Amanda Todd was 12 or 13 when Maxson snapped the photo, a year older when he shared the photos, so Maxson's crime is, at the very least, distributing child porn. They can prove that. Maybe they'll go after him for other things (she claimed she was blackmailed, pictures were distributed, QED).

    But it doesn't escape me that her entire community FAILED her most. Primarily, the actual bullying kids who preyed on her are even more directly responsible for her suicide; the people who put up Facebook pages with her boobs — direct harassment, needs to be punished. I'd LOVE to see those brats (all of them, even the ones who merely witnessed it and didn't say anything) get sent to juvey and put to work cleaning toilets or building homes for the poor; they're a wretched sort who don't get an out, but whose "rehabilitation" could actually benefit themselves and deter other kids from piling on with bullying. Such a thing could make Amanda Todd's life seem worthwhile without being too cruel (the bullies are, after all, teens).

    Her parents might have slipped a bit a few nights when she was 12, but they also turned around and put her in counseling, let her change schools numerous times, let her change cities, etc, so I'm finding it REALLY hard to blame her family at all. That one-second "boob flash" could happen to any one of our childen (well, except those of us who ban webcams, like I do, but that's pretty extreme heh). What more could her family have done to rectify her situation? (I really have no idea. Change identities and nationalities and move en masse, because of one boob shot when their daughter was 12?!)

    Finally, all these "mourners" now, who went to school with her, taught her, etc, why didn't they sit with her at lunch? I mean, even a TINY BIT of support from her community at any time in these two years (which feels like forever when you're 12) might have given her the strength she needed to stand against Maxson; to prosecute him; to prosecute the bullies that ganged up and assaulted her. It's really sad, but for all the bad Maxson did, and for all the cruelty of the actual bullies, it was Vancouver as a whole who failed her.

  139. Re:It's all tied together by LordLucless · · Score: 1

    That's pretty much what I said. The general term is asceticism, and it is present in some religions, some sects of some religions, and some areligious philosophies. There's nothing particularly wrong with asceticism either, as a personal philosophy. I certainly wouldn't classify it as a mental problem. It's just when people try to enforce it at a political level that it becomes problematic (like pretty much any philosophy so enforced).

    And, yeah, the whole monastic tradition is pretty much built around asceticism. But Puritanism is the most direct link to the asceticism of Christians in the United States, which is why I brought it up.

    --
    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
  140. Re:It's all tied together by Darby · · Score: 0

    Dont believe me? during the downward spiral of the USA EVERY SINGLE president has been a Christian!

    You seem to be trying to make a joke, but it's fairly accurate. In the early days of the country, none of the Presidents were Christians. Lincoln invented the idea of preaching biblical nonsense to lure in the bottom of the barrel.

    Reagan perfected the idea and dragged the absolute worst of the worst our country has to offer out of the boonies where they'd previously been content to laze about welfare leeching off of the productive members of our society and told them that it was their right to piss in the face of every ideal this country was ostensibly founded upon.

    This is why we're in our current situation. Social, economic, and military.

  141. Re:It's all tied together by zblack_eagle · · Score: 2

    The quantity of gametes produced by and the possible reproductive frequency of each gender are grossly disproportional. As a male I am (theoretically) fertile at all times from puberty until I die and am not biologically constrained to fathering children once every nine months. Social stigmatization, morals, ethics and child support aside, I am want to spread my seed as much as possible. Women, however, are relatively constrained in their ability to reproduce and it is much more expensive for them. Not to mention it being historically dangerous for them (not from fundamentalists, but from death in childbirth).

    So biologically women are generally more selective about who they mate with. However, that doesn't mean that male-dominated societies haven't attempted to tip the scales in their favour somewhat.

  142. Re:It's all tied together by tqk · · Score: 1

    Excuse me? Since when has religion had much to do with morality?

    I guess you've missed a few thousand years of history?

    Perhaps he has, but I haven't. Look, only a few hundred years ago people had no idea there were such things as microbes or viruses. People had no idea why poorly cooked meat was dangerous. People thought that things that smelled badly smelled badly because they were evil, or were infused with evil spirits. People decided pork was evil because pigs were dirty animals (not true, but they decided it anyway; they had very little good intel to go on then).

    Evil? Immoral? Putrid or rancid? Three sides of one coin, if you're ignorant of root cause.

    The purpose of proceeding historically is to substantiate the claim that morality and religion have been inseparable until very recently, and that our moral vocabulary is still deeply infused with this history.

    As much as I respect Stanford, this is stupid. Morality, if we equate it with fear of death, have been inseparable due to ignorance. Had they known about microbes and the true cause of disease, they wouldn't have overloaded the word "morality." It'd have just been yet another phenom that people needed to deal with. Instead, through ignorance of microbes and viruses, religion wormed (pun intended) its way into their psyche.

    I don't equate morality with fear of death. I equate it with right vs. wrong, good vs. evil, benevolent vs. predatory, cooperation vs. confrontation, ...

    Thanks, but no, I don't want any of your rotten fish. You Euros eat the strangest things, sometimes.

    --
    "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
  143. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm an Australian lawyer not a Canadian one, but I would presume that felony murder exists in any common law jurisdiction where it has not been explicitly abolished by statute (such as in the UK).

    I like the way you think, there's a prosecutor in there somewhere wanting to get out. That being said, I think you'll have difficulty establishing sufficient connection between the actual event of her death and said felony. The death did not occur during, or in order to enable, the commission of the alleged felony, but only as an indirect result some time thereafter.

  144. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You mean like the HPV vaccine? Also, I feel like most vaccines are for viruses and most STIs are bacterial (with exceptions on both sides, of course), but I can't find any sources about that, so that might not be the case.

  145. Re:It's all tied together by Darby · · Score: 0

    There are people who say they are a religion, and there are people who take that religion very seriously.

    Right. In the first category are most "religious" people. In the second category are things like Fred Phelps and similar ilk.

    People in the first category, while mostly harmless in and of themselves are the primary enabling force behind the second.

    The first category has to go for us to ever be able to forge a decent just society.
    Without them gone ( by education, not doucheicide ) the second category will always drag us all down...and generally burn us alive as that's kind of their thing.

  146. Re:It's all tied together by i286NiNJA · · Score: 1

    Exactly. I forget which popular Female Studies professor it was who said "Men can benefit from false rape accusations because it will make them more aware of rape culture"

    Something to that effect, it's really scary this shit gets promoted at some schools

  147. Re:It's all tied together by Darby · · Score: 0

    While its true that religion influences culture, to a great extent the opposite is true as well.

    Absolutely. Look at Christianity. Over a thousand years of torture rape and murder and then the Enlightenment wrought a cultural change that morphed Christianity into something which as practiced today is legal in decent societies. Practicing real Christianity would get you locked up for life or put to death in any decent modern society...assuming you consider a society that still has the death penalty in spite of its proven ineffectiveness to be "decent".

    Islam and Judaism are the same.
    There are decent muslim societies and barbaric anachronisms like Saudi Arabia. There's only one Jewish nation and it's a barbaric nazi shithole. I'm putting that one up to a lack of a statistically valid number of data points.

  148. Re:It's all tied together by ClioCJS · · Score: 1

    That's not how I see it personally -- I see Fred Phelps in the column of very religious. That's what drives his action. Misinterpretation doesn't change that. There'd be nothing to misinterpret if religion wasn't involved. He'd probably be a hater, but he'd probably have chosen some other group (1d20 vs all existing groups).

    --
    -Clio
    Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
    Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
  149. Re:It's all tied together by fredprado · · Score: 1

    Good for you. It is a healthy position to have nowadays, but it has very little to do with the subject of my post.

  150. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And what's the deal with women who sleep with many men being called "sluts", while men who sleep with many men are called "gay"?

  151. Re:It's all tied together by Darby · · Score: 0

    Americans probably have a higher correlation between Christianity and Puritansim, as many of their initial settlers were Puritans getting the hell out of England

    Only if by "getting the hell out of England" you mean "getting tossed the fuck out of Europe for their violent as in burning anyone who didn't believe the exact ridiculous nonsense as them alive approach to Christianity".

    Seriously, you are capable of a better understanding than spouting retarded bumper sticker slogans. respect yourself enough to gain that understanding.

  152. Re:Anyone else having a hard time feeling sorry? by Maow · · Score: 1

    Yes, what happened is tragic.

    Yes, the guy who talked her into exposing herself is a creep (and possibly a pedophile)

    But does she really have anyone to blame but herself? Seriously, some random guy on the Internet asks her to show her tits and she does it? Really??

    Additionally, "cuber-bullying" is just the next wave of technophobic, attention-grabbing idiocy by the media. People get bullied every day in school and we just expect that. But this is happening on THE INTERNET, OH NO!! .

    By any measure, "cyber-bullying" is a whole lot easier to shrug off because ... well, y'know that little X in the top, right-hand corner of your chat window? Click it.

    She switched schools after the "cyber-bullying", was tracked down, had her boobs pic sent to friends, parents, etc.

    She moved & changed schools, and it happened again.

    This was not going to be solved by closing a desktop window. Nor was it confined to the Internet.

    And, now listen to this you asshole, she was 13 years old when she flashed her boobs. You're going to hold her responsible when she's years away from a driver's license, never mind adulthood? That's the same mindset the sicko had that blackmailed her for further sexual imagery, "hey, she deserved it, she consented", etc.

  153. Re:It's all tied together by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    no. i believe rape should be illegal

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  154. Re:It's all tied together by Darby · · Score: 0

    Rush Limbaugh is not a man.
    He's some sort of fat drug-addled lump of diseased shit that likes lying in a bath tub while fat old men stand around and piss on him.
    Thanks to Bill Hicks.
    Now, still, you're spot on in your other two counter examples, but the OPs comment was actually an old joke.
    HTH.

  155. Re:It's all tied together by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 1

    b) if a girl shows her breasts, she is a slut and a whore and should be ashamed of herself and do whatever it takes to have no one find out about it,

    More generally, I'm also perplexed by the social double-standard where men who have (had) multiple sex-partners (or are sexually aggressive, for lack of a better word) are "studs", but women are "sluts". Seems like a bunch of misogynistic bullshit from insecure men to make women feel second-rate. (I'm a guy, by the way.)

    Except that other women are more prone to call them sluts than men are.

  156. Re:It's all tied together by Serious+Callers+Only · · Score: 1

    You wouldn't believe how many women consider consensual one nighter as rape when it involve [sic] alcohol

    Slashdot, how could this kind of misogynist bullshit reach (Score 5, Insightful) on a story about a young girl bullied into suicide by shame over sex?

  157. Sympathy .. by mevets · · Score: 2

    Perhaps my feeling of revulsion is best summarized by Adam Smith:
              We blush for the impudence and rudeness of another, though he himself appears to have no sense of the impropriety of his own behaviour; because we cannot help feeling with what confusion we ourselves should be covered, had we behaved in so absurd a manner.

  158. Re:It's all tied together by eugene+ts+wong · · Score: 1

    Okay, but I have debated with women who said that women can't give consent when drunk, and seen a site that said likewise [I tried finding it for you, but can't]. So I don't get how drunken sex fits into the picture for those people. The decision always relies on the woman, even after the act. Even if she said that everything was okay going in, it is almost as if she could revoke the consent retroactively.

  159. Re:It's all tied together by Darby · · Score: 0

    Also many "slutty" girls seem to be full of mental problems, this is personal experience, I do realize it's not always the case but it's truer than I'd like.

    How many "puritanical" girls have you slept with? I'm guessing not many.
    My experience is that while you have outliers...post 18 virgins (dated one at 24...no she didn't make 25 crazy as a shitbat's batshit) and girls who can't name a man they've met they haven't slept with ( never heard of one ), as a whole it's the repressed ones with the severe mental problems.
      Most "sluts" are healthy happy girls who enjoy their bodies and in modern liberal societies like America was founded to be are allowed to do so. Granted there are some whose fathers paid too much attention to them, but you're blaming them rather than the perps.
    Men and women left to their own devices without violently oppressive (almost always religious in nature) controls unethically imposed upon them *love* fucking. My experience ( 42 years old very smart, very good looking and quite socially awkward) is that women like fucking even more than men do. Women's freedom in this respect has only just started. "Slutty" girls of today are going to seem chaste by the next generation's standards and that doesn't make them anything bad. It makes them equal people who are allowed to enjoy their lives as they see fit.
    Man up and deal with it or be left out of the future gene pool.

     

  160. I've seen this story before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Teen suicide due to internet bullying is, tragically, not a new story. Anonymous is not a judge, jury or executioner. It cannot replace any countries legal system. What it can do is search, find and out likely culprits, and publicly post this information for hapless law enforcement agencies to accidentally trip over and perhaps even notice and use. If nothing else, Anonymous can make people who abuse and bully other people on the internet -non-anonymous-. This is good enough for me. Nothing disinfects like sunlight.

  161. Re:It's all tied together by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

    By the way, I wasn't serious about the rant thing. I apologize if you took offense.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  162. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Y'know, I thought I was that kind of person when I was raised in a religion (Mormon, if you're wondering), and that I'd turn into some sort of lowlife if I ever turned my back on it. But it turns out that when I dumped the mythological load that was weighing me down, I wasn't that kind of person underneath it all. It was just the brainwashing done by my religion that had convinced me I'd be that way without it. I'd bet most religious people are the same way, too (religious *leaders*, on the other hand, are basically all crooks).

    Waking up from the "God" dream did nothing but improve my moral fiber, because now I do what is right *because* it is right. Not because I'm afraid of burning.

  163. Re:It's all tied together by Imagix · · Score: 1

    Thought there was a case somewhere that said that the person needed to be able to give consent at all stages. This case had to do with causing the partner to become unconscious and then have sex with them. It was discussed beforehand. But the court ruled that since the subject had become unconscious, the person was unable to continue to give consent and thus was illegal.

  164. Re:It's all tied together by Eskarel · · Score: 1

    Except she was 13.

  165. Re:It's all tied together by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

    Evil? Immoral? Putrid or rancid? Three sides of one coin, if you're ignorant of root cause.

    You may have something there as to dietary law, but I'm not sure you're going to be able to follow that path and get close to:

    The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  166. Re:It's all tied together by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    Welcome to reality. People aren't dependable. There is no better deal. So tread with caution.

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  167. Re:It's all tied together by Darby · · Score: 0

    The character Yahweh is one evil, psychotic, amoral, sadistic, narcissitic bastard

    Yeah, the thing I can't help but feel disgusted by around Christians et al is that they read a savagely violent book of fairy tales and then willfully choose to *worship* the bad guy.

    Utterly creepy feeling whenever I'm around those amoral, sociopathic monsters.

  168. This is how the Internet cancer works. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First *they* do this to the girl, then they pick a another victim who's now going to be the second to be killed/outed. They've been doing this for years and years, to countless people and companies, but bafflingly, hardly anyone realizes this. Are you fucking blind? You just keep reporting their frequent acts of terrorism and bullshit PR stunts because it makes for "great" news to the dumb sheep. It's truly sickening to witness this happening over and over and over again. Is it ever going to end?

    Read this: The Internet cancer.

  169. Anonymous? O RLY? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's a huge difference between the Anonymous "organization" and some bunch of teenage script kiddies coming from 4chan /b/, seeking for revenge.

  170. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  171. Re:It's all tied together by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    Someone else alluded to all that and I get and understand it. However, the double standard has no place in modern society. Women should be able to have control over their bodies as much, if not more than, men, which includes sex without a derogatory label not otherwise applied to men equally promiscuous.

    Histo-biology would point to women being more selective, but it's not a requirement. In some whale species, females mate with multiple partners at the same time in an attempt to get the best male. (The Discovery Channel rocks.)

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  172. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... consensual one-nighter as rape when it involve alcohol ...

    The law agrees with them. The question is to what extent? Obviously, a woman who is falling down drunk is unable to make an informed decision.

    Either way, women have to learn not to use men or alcohol as they please.

  173. Anonymous had enough people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are enough people involve with Anonymous for there to be some who would knowing go after an innocent person for their own reasons. Heck, even police forces, especially police forces have to worry about that issue.

    Does Anonymous have any "Internal Affairs" division to filter that possibility out?

    Uh oh, they might be coming after me!

  174. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whoever modded these two comments got it backwards. The guy saying that chicks are all claiming rape after drinking was modded insightful and the person calling them out on it got modded troll? WTF? Seriously?

    Secondly? Whenever I see a dude going on about how women get drunk and then lie about being raped...yeah, I pretty much just assume he's a rapist, especially considering the studies they've done on such things.

  175. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why the fuck should someone be ashamed of someone else's wrongdoing?

  176. biggest problem by SuperDre · · Score: 1

    the biggest problem is that we don't know if the by 'anonymous' targeted person actually IS the one who is responsible, we have to take 'anonymous' word for it. And it's not that 'anonymous' is as reliable as a lot of people think, anyone can claim he/she's 'anonymous' also people with bad intentions (which IMHO are a lot of 'anonymous' people as they don't care about nothing as their own views)..

  177. Re:It's all tied together by Joce640k · · Score: 1

    It would behoove us to come up with something a little more utilitarian, and a wee bit less subjective.

    Universal Declaration Of Human Rights

    --
    No sig today...
  178. Moralfags. Moralfags everywhere. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What the hell has happened to Anonymous? Didn't we used to be pro taunting suicidal teens? Does nobody appreciate humour anymore?

  179. Re:It's all tied together by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    If X and Y are mutually exclusive, a belief in X is a disbelief in Y.

  180. Do you even understand the concept of Anonymous by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 3, Informative

    You do understand that the whole concept of anonymity is to have no identity? Anonymous isn't a group of individuals because you can't be certain who is or isn't a member because they are all anonymous. The moment they get an individual identity, they are no longer anonymous.

    Last weekend, a video was posted threathening dutch ISP and the dutch content mafia with a cyber attack by Anonymous, it turned out to be a kid who had no relation with them but there was no way to know this because you can't call up anon and ask them if anon, no the other anon, not that anon, you know the anon who knowns anon is really an anon. Well you could but the poor sap you end up calling randomly probably will hang up on you.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:Do you even understand the concept of Anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Abusing anonymity to do illegal activities seems pretty self-destructive and dumb as fuck. They just end up being the reason for their own imprisonment and loss of freedoms.

    2. Re:Do you even understand the concept of Anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      newsflash, well whole point of anonimus is to do things that are considered ILLEGAL but are MORAL because sometimes law is not moral

    3. Re:Do you even understand the concept of Anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, for all we know, this is a new version of th perp walk, and law enforcement was behind the press release from "anonymous". However, I kind of doubt it.

    4. Re:Do you even understand the concept of Anonymous by elucido · · Score: 1

      newsflash, well whole point of anonimus is to do things that are considered ILLEGAL but are MORAL because sometimes law is not moral

      If it's morally right then why not have a digital identity and still be anonymous?

  181. Yeah, nasty Napoleon by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    Anyone of any religion could serve under Napoleon and rise through the ranks. Good luck doing that in the British army of those days.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  182. But if you can't get justice by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    Revenge is the best you can get.

    I am not a dreamer, I don't believe it worth letting a million criminals go free to save one innocent man from jail. Because the reality is that countless criminals go free and STILL we end up with innocent people going to jail.

    Revenge might not solve anything but it sure feels good and doing nothing doesn't solve anything either and makes you feel lousy.

    So, unless you can offer justice, I go for revenge.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:But if you can't get justice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He who seeks revenge must dig two graves - one for his enemy and one for himself.

      The main reason revenge (and, by extension, vigilantes) are discouraged as they frequently cause more damage than they intend, not the least of which being prompting acts of revenge against the first act of revenge - things escalate. That's the role of the courts - to eliminate escalation by closing the matter while being knowledgeable to rule based on all facts of the case, not just rumor or misperception.

      Justice is balance, revenge is hardly impartial enough to recognize balance and typically goes beyond.

    2. Re:But if you can't get justice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This reminds me of a story after the Trayvon Martin case here in the U.S. People were up in arms about the whole incident, decrying the courts for not acting fast enough. People suggested vigilante justice - go out, find this person, this apparent scum of the earth and make him pay as the courts weren't going to. So they found his home address, except it was the WRONG home address, one of an elderly couple.

      I severely doubt those angry people would believe that they had gotten the wrong address (I read it on the internet, it MUST be true! They must be hiding him, don't believe their lies!) and I severely hope that elderly couple weren't harmed in any way, though they had to flee their home.

      http://ethicsalarms.com/2012/03/28/ethics-quiz-trayvon-martin-ethics-train-wreck-edition-spike-lees-incompetent-vigilantism/

  183. Re:It's all tied together by loufoque · · Score: 1

    Since when has religion had much to do with morality?

    Since its inception.

  184. A troll was trolled, where is the harm? by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    An asshole thought he could do anything on the internet without consequence, so did another asshole. There are consequences to your actions, suck it up.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  185. Because they were 12 too? by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    You ask, why those at school, presumably in her class didn't have the insight of a fully trained shrink and could diagnose her as having issues and offer support?

    Because they are 12 year olds! And her teachers? Over-worked dealing with hundreds of students each with their own problems. A quiet shy girl who isn't noticed, doesn't get noticed. The bullies get the support because they make a lot of noise, the quiet ones who commit suicide of the bullies, they don't appear on the radar.

    And the bullies blame their victims for being weak, see countless comments so far on this subject. It is the way of the world.

    And you are supporting it because you blame the world and the victim more then the bullies.

    Ten to one, you were/are a bully yourself.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  186. Been there, done that by Solandri · · Score: 2

    This is not new. The first incident like this (that I know of) was in South Korea in 2005. It (and similar events) culminated in a law essentially stripping out anonymity online. It hasn't worked that well as most anonymous forums have simply moved overseas.

    This is one of the truly new problems created by the Internet, and I look forward to watching how society struggles with coming up with a solution for it. The "lynch mob" analogy doesn't really work since members of mob aren't truly anonymous (though the KKK tried to achieve that), and the potential geographic separation between tormentor and victim is literally worldwide. So while there have been similar problems in the past, none are quite like this one.

  187. Let me be blunt by aepervius · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I have karma to burn.

    If the muslim may not need to feel attacked with all the anti muslim propaganda and advertising, and they should bravely ignore all insult, THEN that teen dying is her own damn fault and the troll asshole which pushed her to do it left alone.

    You can't have it any other way, or you have to admit the muslim have a point.

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
    1. Re:Let me be blunt by Legion303 · · Score: 1

      Are you really comparing free speech ("anti muslim propaganda and advertising") with felony actions (what "troll asshole" did was illegal)?

      And unless I missed part of the story, this teenager didn't go out and kill people with no connections to her tormentor.

    2. Re:Let me be blunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In this case the target of the attacks killed herself. Are you suggesting that muslims should kill themselves?

      I don't think that this particular comparison works so well.

    3. Re:Let me be blunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice insightful mod on a completely inaccurate post, lacking in a ton of information, comparing apples to oranges. And starting it with 'I have karma to burn' is just another way of saying 'Hey, I'm controversial, mod me insightful'.

      1. Most of the muslims haven't seen the video
      2. It's been said time and again, and proven as such, that the video was used as a convenient excuse. The attacks were pre-planned regardless.
      3. Trolling someone to the point that they commit suicide is a touch different than hordes of people commiting cold-blooded murder in the name of their extremist religious views.
      4. You're an idiot, get off the internet.

    4. Re:Let me be blunt by BeanThere · · Score: 1

      So your point is that Muslims are as psychologically fragile as 12-year-olds?

      Or your point is that "insulting" Islam (in general) is equivalent to harassing and posting topless photos of a specific 12-year old individual?

      I'm afraid I'm not really getting your point, it seems to me you have various different things all mixed up.

    5. Re:Let me be blunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is true. There is no difference between a targeted attack against an individual and an insult against a group. After all it would be easy to coerce all Muslims simultaneously into doing something they would later be ashamed of.

  188. It is because the assymetry of gender by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is basically the old cavemen in us. A woman going everywhere you can't make sure your children are from your seed. A lot of people can't get past those gut feeling.

  189. Re:It's all tied together by tqk · · Score: 1

    Evil? Immoral? Putrid or rancid? Three sides of one coin, if you're ignorant of root cause.

    You may have something there as to dietary law, but I'm not sure you're going to be able to follow that path and get close to:

    YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.

    I don't have to. It's a different path.

    I'm an atheist, but it's still not that hard to do. Personally, I prefer to go back about a thousand years to Aristotle (paraphrased): "We love in others that which we see in them of ourselves."

    --
    "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
  190. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "That kind of person scares me. What happens if they ever lose their faith? They'll turn into raping, murdering lunatics since God was the only thing keeping them decent."

    Most of them would be raping, murdering lunatics if they had the balls with god. God actually tends to encourage that behavior.

  191. Re:It's all tied together by buntsai · · Score: 1

    Even in Australia, it is not clear that this would be prosecutable offense under felony murder. The link between the felony and the suicide may not be strong enough. Though felony murder has been abolished by statute in the UK, the Mens rea in murder requires only intent to injure. Thus, in practice, the law has not diverged from other common law jurisdictions as much as you would have thought.

  192. Re:It's all tied together by geirlk · · Score: 1

    Morality is more or less an extension to Empathy. "I can see how action X will make Y feel bad, and I would not like anyone to do it to me either". Maybe some need a religious underpinning to be moral, but not everyone.

    Just because for some 2000 years, religion == history, there's no reason to conclude that religion == morality, or that atheism != morality.
    Yes, we've had a couple of evil "atheistic" governments, but not as many as there have been evil religious governments through the last 2000 years.

    In fact, I'd claim that as soon as any government claims to be guided by a religious direction of some sorts, someone from a competing religious belief system, or none-believers, is going to get hurt.

  193. Re:It's all tied together by gmack · · Score: 1

    I don't buy this. Yes, she screwed up by showing her breasts to some guy. That was her mistake. His crime was being an adult and talking a child into doing something she shouldn't be doing and then using those pictures to try and blackmail her into getting even more from her.

    How is it not a form of bullying when the pervert in question went out of his way to make sure her friends and family all saw the resulting pictures for the simple reason that he was angry at her for not getting what he wanted?

  194. Re:It's all tied together by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

    Yes, morality has been closely tied to religion in the West. But if you look at what that morality actually was, most of it would be considered immoral by today's standards. Everything from slavery to burning people for heresy was sanctioned and enforced by the Church. So it's just as correct to say that there were many fine, upstanding individuals that were good IN SPITE of being religious. And in the last 100 years there have been many governments, both religious and atheist that have done unspeakable things. The reason the atheist ones did more evil is that they survived longer - after defeating the religious ones.

  195. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  196. Re:It's all tied together by alexgieg · · Score: 2

    Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have believing that nonsense

    No, they don't. The part about it being "a man" is called anthropomorphism, which the three reject. The part about it being "in the sky" is called idolatry, which the three also reject. The only correct point would be the "invisible" one, but even that arguably so given that's a property of every abstract out there (numbers, logical concepts etc.).

    I'm not sure if your question was merely rhetorical, or if you are a {troll|idiot}.

    Well, my guess is that both you and the OP are going for a straw man fallacy, but if not, we can continue.

    --
    Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
  197. Re:It's all tied together by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

    Why even bother with felony murder. The guy can be charged with any number of other crimes (production of child porn, distribution of child porn, stalking, harassment,...........) Add that all up and he'll spend a good few years in prison - and I don't think child pornography is a 'good' crime to be imprisoned for.

  198. Re:It's all tied together by TFAFalcon · · Score: 2

    But isn't that a big double standard? If two people go out, both get stupid drunk and have sex, why is that considered a one sided rape? If consent laws are to be enforced, then charge them both.

  199. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According to the Bible God made Man in his own image. Therefore if Man is like God, God must be like Man. This doesn't make the "invisible man in the sky" statement literally correct, but it does make it a reasonable description of their God.

  200. Re:It's all tied together by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

    It might be connected to religions still prohibiting the use of contraception, even though it also helps prevent the spread of most STDs. AND many 'religious' politicians are against vaccinating children against viruses like the HPV, with some claiming that it would encourage teenage sex.

  201. If that were the extent of it... by MikeRT · · Score: 2

    Now, do you think that the upheaval of the aristocracy was sugar cookies and lemonade for the economy of France? What about all the merchants employed by the Aristocracy? How evil of those revolutionaries to do such a thing to the Aristocracy because it affected merchants!

    And yet you leave out the mass killings that presaged the democides of the 20th century that came from these proto-leftists. Can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, amiright? (And ironically, the man who coined that phrase was one of the mass-murderers who lead the Reign of Terror)

  202. Re:It's all tied together by tgd · · Score: 1

    (Zechariah 14:1-2 NAB)

            Lo, a day shall come for the Lord when the spoils shall be divided in your midst. And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle: the city shall be taken, houses plundered, women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be removed from the city. (Zechariah 14:1-2 NAB)

    I'm probably being unfair. This religion only represents about 1/6 of the worlds population and is the likely religion of the parent poster. There are probably many religions which are actually against rape.

    Keep mind mind that is Old Testament, and it is the underpinnings for the religions that 2/3 of the world follow.

  203. Anonymous didn't do this for justice... by Phlow · · Score: 1

    Seems clear to me that it's just another example of some maladjusted hackers wanting to show people that they are the biggest bully around. That the only reason you're safe, is because they haven't targeted you yet.

    They did this to see what would happen, not for some vigilante justice.

  204. other ppl deserve privacy, not this guy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    go ahead anon, out this guy.... as long as you have access to his system, have seen the emails he sent, have seen the pics
    he took.... if its damn near guaranteed its the guy then to hell with this guy. hes one of the worst kinds of ppl.
    whos to say he hasn't gone farther? molested people he has access too.... you know he would if he could.

    release his data. go anon go.

  205. Re:It's all tied together by alexgieg · · Score: 2

    it does make it a reasonable description of their God.

    Only if the sentence "the belief that an explosion in a junkyard can produce a fully functional airplane" counts as a reasonable description of evolution, which it evidently doesn't. Straw man is as straw man goes.

    Thus, unless one's going to talk about an existing sect within one of the existing branches of one of the existing Abrahamic religions, said sect actually believing and preaching that God indeed and literally is an "invisible man in the sky", that argumentative path doesn't apply. And even if there is such a sect, any argument trying to disprove that specific belief about God applies only to that sect, not to any of the other ones, which comprise the majority of those religions.

    --
    Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
  206. Trending by devilsdean · · Score: 1

    I understand this is a sad story, but look at the search trends for the alleged guy. On sat Oct 13, 33 web searches for his name. That is an awful low number for a bunch of kids looking for this guy on a Saturday night. http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=Kody%20Maxson&date=today%201-m&cmpt=q

  207. Nice false dichotomy there by MikeRT · · Score: 1

    Children are not fully-formed adults, we can't treat them as such. They do not have full control over their lives as adults do. If you believe that children should be treated as adults than whatever age you believe that begins they should be allowed to drink, smoke, gamble and vote.

    That they are not fully-formed adults is a red herring because no one wakes up one day a mature, responsible adult. As minors grow, they become steadily more capable of certain things and being held accountable for them. Furthermore, you are treating several different topics as though they require the same level of maturity to handle properly. It is complete and utter bullshit to say that if we can expect a 14 year old to obey rules and laws about assault and battery at the same level as a legal adult that we can expect them to be able to vote or drink alcohol without supervision because there are serious differences of kind between obeying rules and laws on the use of force, drinking and voting.

  208. Sexual extortion != bullying by spyke252 · · Score: 1

    I just finished reading TFA, and going back to the article TFA links to, and watching the video... My first comment. What. The. Fuck. This wasn't "bullying", this was sexual extortion. I would consider it in the same class of crimes as rape, and should hold similar punishment standards. Not simply bullying. But TFA really confuses me- they keep using the term "bully" and switching between talking about the man who blackmailed her and the people around her who punched and kicked and gave shady glances and posted mean comments on Facebook. The others around her? They were bullies. But nobody seems to be going after them, even if they are the "problem". TFA reeks of "something must be done about this problem and oh here is another worse problem to compare it to that led to this one". And I feel that the article is pushing a "Cyberbullying must be stopped" agenda, which is a shame, because it detracts from the tragedy rather than adds anything to it. When I read it, I read "I have an agenda and I'm using this incident of malice and torment to further my agenda".

  209. Re:It's all tied together by MysteriousPreacher · · Score: 1

    But in the last 100 years, experience with officially atheist governments have not produced happy outcomes, by and large. Indeed, they have been terribly bloody.

    But how is it fair to describe those countries exclusively as being "atheist governments" as if atheism was the driving force behind their actions? Can you draw a necessary connection between atheism and the ideologies that drove those regimes? What you're doing is the equivalent of saying that Iran's government is theistic, so that explains why they oppress women. Theism itself doesn't necessary imply actions, as one could be a theist and not act upon it in any way. However, theism as a term carries more baggage than atheism. How many theists have gods to which they ascribe no attributes?

    Let's consider a government who outlaws theism. Let's say that this government is atheistic in nature, but how does a personal lack of belief in gods lead to the notion that all theistic belief should be purged? No, that's something else.

    Unless you can draw a necessary connection from atheism, what you have there is as useful as stating that a lack of interest in sport is causing a decline in tennis in favour of football.

    --
    -- Using the preview button since 2005
  210. Score: 5 by doginthewoods · · Score: 2

    Mods - so you think this kid's suicide is Score:5, Funny? What the hell is wrong with you?

    --
    Republican leadership = Idiocracy
  211. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  212. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    b) if a girl shows her breasts, she is a slut and a whore and should be ashamed of herself and do whatever it takes to have no one find out about it,

    More generally, I'm also perplexed by the social double-standard where men who have (had) multiple sex-partners (or are sexually aggressive, for lack of a better word) are "studs", but women are "sluts". Seems like a bunch of misogynistic bullshit from insecure men to make women feel second-rate. (I'm a guy, by the way.)

    It all comes down to power.
    I am male, my power base is strength and the fear it can bring. When we look at our media and western religions, it is pretty cool to be a dangerous bad ass.
    Women's power base is sex and pleasure. When we look at how sex is regarded by the media and western religions we see that this is bad and evil.
    So how did we get to this sick point?
    Well long ago Sargon began the western religions and the end of the female gods. Gone were the fertility goddesses and here to stay were the killers and destroyers. The Abrahamic god even gets his wife erased.
    It has always been about power and control. Reducing 1 gender to second class citizens it either the intent or collateral damage.
    These days most of this is not even considered. Women go to the same churches as men and attack their fellow women when they show their power. The social nature of women's power base also exploits this in struggles. Where males just go get in a fight, females undermine each other socially; "slut" is just a useful weapon at that point.
    Well that is enough rambling for now. I'm going to go take off my shirt and walk down the street and poke fun at the women who are covered in tarps. Maybe I'll even ask a few how that "equal rights" thing is going. If one gives me any lip about it I'll point out how her friend's nipples are showing through her shirt and then let the knee jerk conditioning kick in.

  213. Re:It's all tied together by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

    It's currently a majority but the total is actually about 55% to 56%.

    http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html
    Nice pie chart here.

    1.Christianity: 2.1 billion

    2.Islam: 1.5 billion

    3.Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion

    4.Hinduism: 900 million

    5.Chinese traditional religion: 394 million

    6.Buddhism: 376 million

    7.primal-indigenous: 300 million

    8.African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million

    9.Sikhism: 23 million

    10.Juche: 19 million

    11.Spiritism: 15 million

    12.Judaism: 14 million

    13.Baha'i: 7 million

    14.Jainism: 4.2 million

    15.Shinto: 4 million

    16.Cao Dai: 4 million

    17.Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million

    18.Tenrikyo: 2 million

    19.Neo-Paganism: 1 million

    20.Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand

    21.Rastafarianism: 600 thousand

    22.Scientology: 500 thousand

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  214. Re:It's all tied together by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

    lol.. the parent is a 5 and this one was moderated to a 0.

    I'm probably being unfair. This religion only represents about 1/6 of the worlds population and is the likely religion of the parent poster. There are probably many religions which are actually against rape.

    Perhaps BOTH atheists and religious people were gunning for it.

    lol.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  215. Re:It's all tied together by geekoid · · Score: 1

    "Society's rejection of morality and ethics leads to this."
    ah, so you have some predefined morality you want to shove down everyone's throat, nice.

    " Atheism leads to this. "
    have you even read the bible?

    " The culture of consent and contraception, "
    yes, force women to your will and make then have babies every year. You sure are a winner, pal.

    Protip: Even though belief and religions have been on the decline, there has been consistently less crime since the 70's.

    I'm sorry, did I interrupt you talking out of your ass?

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  216. Re:It's all tied together by MrSenile · · Score: 1

    Or listen to others who think even the purpose of bringing such sick and twisted mentality is a good debating point.

    Various religious teachings also talk about stoning to death people who have done any of the above.

    Today in our 'enlightened' world, we have lawyers, that we all pay for, help to acquit people who are beyond guilty, because of government officials who also follow a lot of the above, and not in the name of religion, but because they're sick twisted individuals.

    How about just accept that the fault lies with the person, and not any group they are aligned with. All that is is an excuse to hide behind. It's time we all grew up from hanging on the skirt of mommy and grew a pair and start taking responsibility for everything we say and do and stop worrying so much about the other person.

  217. Re:Anyone else having a hard time feeling sorry? by geekoid · · Score: 1

    "But does she really have anyone to blame but herself? "
    Of course, the guy who bullied her.

    "Seriously, some random guy on the Internet asks her to show her tits and she does it? Really??"
    no, not really,.. There as far more to it then that.

    " People get bullied every day in school and we just expect that."
    no we don't. If anything you highlight medias compliance with bulling. It's not right, and should be highlighted when ever it happens online or in meatspace.
    People are easy to manipulate and children have very little or no experience dealing with the raw emotion they feel.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  218. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No. Where Religion has come close is in promoting systems of ethics. Morals are much deeper, and can't be learned from a book or preacher.

  219. Re:It's all tied together by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

    Then why did Marx quote from the Bible?

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  220. Re:It's all tied together by MrSenile · · Score: 1

    Yea, and if you kept reading Judges, you'd see that they were offered the women as optional wives, no where do I see that it allowed raping them.

    Later in Numbers it talks about keeping them as slaves/labor, which in that period was more than allowed, religious or not. It again does not state about raping them or in any way forcing themselves on them.

    Deuteronomy, when they talk about 'enjoying the spoils', they're actually talking about the food and wine. If you read other translations, 'enjoy the spoils' is translated as 'eat the spoil of thine enemies'. I somehow doubt they were talking about tossing the kids in a meat grinder and eating their bones.

    Even further, in Deuteronomy, it states that if they found a women appealing, that they were to talk to the mother/father for a period of time, and then make her their wife, and also if they found no pleasure from having her as a wife, to release her freely.

    Doesn't sound like rape to me, but I guess comments are like statistics on here. All made up for a purpose based on a point of view.

  221. Re:It's all tied together by MrSenile · · Score: 1

    If you read before Zechariah and after Zechariah, you'll find that the ones who are taking the city, plundering the houses, and ravishing the women are the invaders, you know, the ones who, in just the next chapter that the Lord said he would fight directly against.

    But sure, yea, believe what you want.

  222. Re:It's all tied together by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

    And yet, the thread on alcohol sex proves I have a point.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  223. Re:It's all tied together by MickLinux · · Score: 1

    Okay, there's several things tied up in your post. First of all, at least according to the Christians, belief in God doesn't do the trick. "Very good, even the devils believe, and it makes them tremble." Second, the Son of God came so that forgiveness would make an eternity of life bearable. Thirdly, the word repent comes from "back/again (re) hand (pente, the five fingers)". It means being able to draw your hand back from sin. The JudeoChristian Bible (Deuteronomy 30, to be exact) is very specific that we have no power to do that... but in Isaiah 53:10, it specifies that if He (the Messiah) gives his life as an offering, his descendents will live long (forever), and the Lord's will will prosper in his hand, for by knowing him, many will be justified. Elsewhere Isaiah specifies that the Holy Spirit, in whose relationship He was kept from sin, will be given in fullness to his descendants

            Read about Wigglesworth, or Brengle: it does happen.

            Now, on the other hand, just because a person says "yah, that's me too" doesn't make it so. As Christ himself said, a good tree cannot bear bad fruit; a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

    --
    Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
  224. Re:It's all tied together by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

    At least one person remembered that it was Tuesday!

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  225. Re:It's all tied together by TehCable · · Score: 1

    Allow me to clarify the intent of my original "invisible man in the sky" comment. I did not mean to imply that any religious adult in the modern world would describe their god this way (though as a child, this is exactly the image of god I often had). I used this absurd description to illustrate how absurd the idea of a god is to me as an adult. Contradictions abound in the descriptions of what God is. As somebody pointed out above, the Bible does claim that god made us in his own image. It stands to reason then that goes does have an image, and that image is observable from some real place. We are also told that he is everywhere and in everything and invisible. We are told that Heaven and Hell are real places that people go when they die. As children we believe Heaven to be above the sky and Hell to be below the earth. These images are inescapable because people presumably believed this to be true at some point. Modern man knows there is nowhere left in either the ground nor the sky for such places to hide, so the religious mind has moved them to parallel universes, alternate planes, and other unobservable sanctuaries of the mind. We are told that he controls every detail of everything and that he is good and just and perfect. However, we observe a very imperfect world full of injustice and imperfections. The religious mind excuses these contradictions as "tests of faith." This concept makes absolutely no sense to me, and the more I think about it, the more contemptuous this conceptual God becomes. In summary, if you disagree with my deliberately absurd description of your God as an "invisible man in the sky," then by all means, present a physical description of him that is any less absurd. Hold on a moment, let me get my popcorn.... Okay, you may proceed.

  226. Re:It's all tied together by HiThere · · Score: 1

    No, it's not asceticism. Asceticism seems to flourish in a similar environment, but it's a sadistic kind of dominance game, which is definitely not what asceticism is. I don't think there's really a term for it, though I supose psychaitrists might have one, and it might be listed in the DSM. I suspect, though, that it's considered "normal".

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  227. "I just don't want to catch your cold" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For no particular reason, and I'm not saying it necessarily has any particular relevance, the scene in "Alices's Restaurant" where Arlo gently rebuffs Reenie, the 14-year old teenybopper, comes to mind. It seems some 32 year old boys may not be as sensitive, or, maybe they are, and the wrong goats are being scaped here, given TwitFace culture. I dunno, I wasn't there, but I'm glad I'm not him, and I'm glad I'm not her daddy.

    I definitely have serious reservations about Anonymous' behavior, though. Assuming it really is Anonymous. Channeling Oprah, John Walsh and Matthew Hopkins is not the way to earn good karma. They'll find that out soon enough, though.

  228. Re:It's all tied together by iceaxe · · Score: 1

    You make a good point. As a corollary, I posit that you wouldn't believe how many inebriated rapists think "no" is foreplay.

    --
    WALSTIB!
  229. Re:It's all tied together by alexgieg · · Score: 1

    I'll qualify some of your statements to show how this is all still withing a straw man argument, and proceed with some proper definitions:

    to illustrate how absurd the idea of a god is to me as an adult.

    To illustrate how absurd a children's idea of god is to an adult.

    Contradictions abound in the descriptions of what God is.

    Contradictions abound whenever we compare the many analogies used in trying to describe what God is when we go about simplifying it for mass consumption. Ditto for any simplification of any complex concept, look at your nearest Scientific American magazine.

    As somebody pointed out above, the Bible does claim that god made us in his own image. It stands to reason then that goes does have an image, and that image is observable from some real place.

    Nope. That's one such analogy. Comparisons with human attributes are quite often used because they offer some ground upon which to explain things. This is done quite directly for children, but it becomes progressively more qualified and distanced from such raw impressions as conceptual understanding advances.

    We are also told that he is everywhere and in everything and invisible.

    Another such child analogy is that he is somewhat like a guy who happens to have superpowers such as that of jumping around and looking everywhere, among others. This simplification is a reversal of what philosophical theology conceptualizes and reads in the myths. For anything to exist and to continue existing ('anything' includes time and space themselves), it needs a source of existentiating from which to get its continual existence, otherwise it'd instantly degrade into nothingness. Such source, in turn, must itself neither be in need of any external existentiating, nor subject to any kind of cessation (it existentiates time, so there's no 'after' in which a 'previous' active existentiating would 'stop'). So, not so much that it is "in" everything, but that it is everything, more so than any other secondary attribute of any particular thing.

    The alternative to this is to suppose and infinite regression of ever more remote existentiating sources, which is logically inconsistent. Also, the rhetorical alternative of proposing the universe as the source of its own existentiating in some kind of existential inertia modeled after inertial movement, quite popular among atheists who know about this argument, doesn't take into account the fact the universe: a) is composed of degrading entities; b) is bounded to space-time, thus not exhausting all the things that aren't so bounded.

    We are told that Heaven and Hell are real places that people go when they die. As children we believe Heaven to be above the sky and Hell to be below the earth. These images are inescapable because people presumably believed this to be true at some point. Modern man knows there is nowhere left in either the ground nor the sky for such places to hide, so the religious mind has moved them to parallel universes, alternate planes, and other unobservable sanctuaries of the mind.

    Now, this is a proper criticism, but it has only the barest relationship with a proper concept of God. In any case, it isn't only modern man. You have religious theologians and philosophers as far back as either discipline, many of which considered saints in their respective religions, reading in these myths references to modes of human perception, not literal descriptions. So, whatever criticism you'd like to make towards literalists in this matter is fair game, as long as it isn't supposed to also encompass non-literalists, otherwise it becomes a straw man against them.

    I should add that "parallel universes, alternate planes" etc. are all still physical literalism, analogies based, this time around, on badly understood science, if not science fiction.

    We are told that he controls ev

    --
    Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
  230. Re:It's all tied together by TehCable · · Score: 1

    I find it ironic that your defense against my claims that your god doesn't exist is to call my depiction of your god a "straw man." Of coarse it's a straw man. We're talking about something that doesn't exist. Something that doesn't exist is almost the definition of a straw man.

    Technically, a straw man argument is one based on a false representation of the opponent's claims. The straw man in the term "straw man argument" is an analogy of a manufactured image, an illusion, a figment, a lie, a false premise. I find it a bit too easy to apply the claim of "straw man argument" when the original discussion is about an actual straw man, a figment of humanity's collective imagination, in this case God. I get the sense that you have become comfortable using the term "straw man argument" as your default defense against any and all claims that God does not exist. It is easy for you to claim that any representation of god that you do not like is just a "straw man" because God is an amorphous concept open to broad interpretation.

    I will also note that in your defense, you made no attempt to provide your own description of God. It would be predictable if your next move were to cop-out and say that God is beyond our feeble human understanding, and as such, you are are excused from providing a plausible description of him.

  231. Re:It's all tied together by alexgieg · · Score: 1

    I find it ironic that your defense against my claims that your god doesn't exist is to call my depiction of your god a "straw man."

    So, let me get this straight: you refute your own depiction of what a god is, not that of actual religious individuals, then don't see why that is an argumentative error? I'm disappoint, rage face and all. In fact, it's the first time I saw someone try to straw man the straw man argument so as to make it easier to refute a refutation based on it. That's as meta as one can get! Simply wow! :)

    It is easy for you to claim that any representation of god that you do not like is just a "straw man" because God is an amorphous concept open to broad interpretation.

    You're confused. In logic there's no such thing as liking or not liking. Either both sides are talking about the same subject, and hence they can arrive at some conclusion pertaining that single subject, or they are talking about different subjects and reaching conclusions that have no relationship to each other.

    So, let me put it straight. Your criticism of your concept of God is good. You can perfectly demonstrate that a God as you envisioned cannot exist. I'll go even further: if such a God as you envisioned existed, he'd be evil, and our enemy, and we should combat him to the death. In fact, I'd join you in an army assembled to fight him. So, good thing he most definitely doesn't exist, eh? I'm completely with you in you atheism towards this God of yours. He most definitely doesn't exist, and in this both our hearts rejoice! :)

    But, that applies to that specific concept of God of your. As for the many other concepts of God you haven't talked about, well, you haven't talked about.

    I will also note that in your defense, you made no attempt to provide your own description of God.

    I did. Here's it:

    "For anything to exist and to continue existing ('anything' includes time and space themselves), it needs a source of existentiating from which to get its continual existence, otherwise it'd instantly degrade into nothingness. Such source, in turn, must itself neither be in need of any external existentiating, nor subject to any kind of cessation (it existentiates time, so there's no 'after' in which a 'previous' active existentiating would 'stop'). So, not so much that it is "in" everything, but that it is everything, more so than any other secondary attribute of any particular thing."

    That's God as understood by the top theologians and philosophers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as of both Greek and Roman Paganisms, and in good measure Hinduism too.

    So, let's do this right now: how do you refute this God, the one they all actually believe in?

    --
    Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
  232. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    b) if a girl shows her breasts, she is a slut and a whore and should be ashamed of herself and do whatever it takes to have no one find out about it,

    More generally, I'm also perplexed by the social double-standard where men who have (had) multiple sex-partners (or are sexually aggressive, for lack of a better word) are "studs", but women are "sluts". Seems like a bunch of misogynistic bullshit from insecure men to make women feel second-rate.
    (I'm a guy, by the way.)

    I am perplexed by the double standard that it is sexy and uplifting (no pun intended) for a woman to bare her breasts, but is demoralizing and grotesque for a man to bare his penis.

  233. Why Todd? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe her parents should have named her "John", or "Jack". Whjy not take it a step further and name your baby girl "Male"?

  234. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    None of the passages you quote say anything about raping the women. Keeping a woman is NOT equivalent to raping her. Moses didn't command "Go out and rape the women." Shiloh didn't command, "Bring some women here to rape them." The command was to execute the men and all women who were not virgins.

    EVERY passage you mention is about war, and that in victory you must destroy ALL that is tainted and cannot be trusted to support your cause, otherwise you will never have PEACE as the enemies of the past plot their revenge against you.

    You have taken a very large liberty with the passages , both taken them out of the context of the books and chapters within which they were contained AND in casually equating 'kill all the men and women, except virgins' with 'rape the virgins'. You have taken these liberties, and they are the very-same liberties you despise when a priest or religious person takes them to defend their religion.

  235. Re:It's all tied together by TehCable · · Score: 1

    I have to admit that the first time I read your description of God, I had no idea what you were talking about. I did not recognize it as a description of God, and for that I apologize. I just googled "existentiating definition" and came up with nothing, so all I can do is try to infer your meaning. It sounds like you are making the argument that existence cannot continue existing without something else causing it to exist. I do not see this as a self-evident truth, nor do I see any justification for it in what you wrote. Quite honestly, it comes across as completely insane to me. I'm getting confused just trying to read it. We can agree that there are things that exist. I do not know why you assert that without God, things that currently exist would instantly degrade to nothingness. That seems like a pretty big leap of logic to me. I just realized that I'm trying to debate religion on the internet, which I already knew to be completely pointless. No matter how far we go with this, you will continue obfuscate and make excuses for the preposterous assertions of religions. You may have the last word if it makes you more comfortable in your insanity. I'm done here.

  236. Re:It's all tied together by alexgieg · · Score: 1

    You may have the last word if it makes you more comfortable in your insanity.

    And that is an example of an appeal to ridicule. :)

    --
    Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
  237. Odd how "anon" morals turn on a dime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One minute they harass and bully "Jessi Slaughter" for being an underage camwhore, even making threatening phone calls all hours of the night, sending pizzas, threatening violence/rape/etc.

    The underage nudes were given to police and anon for Jessi taken from her parents and placed in foster care for a couple months but then her dad died and she moved back home and changed schools.

    https://encyclopediadramatica.se/Jessi_Slaughter

    real anon would not be moral, this is some offshoot claiming to be anon, and not the real anon.

    The real anon would have pushed her to suicide and laughed about it and posted it on ED
    like they already have:

    https://encyclopediadramatica.se/Amanda_Todd

    this offshoot trying to post dox isn't the real anon.

  238. Re:It's all tied together by tqk · · Score: 1

    Great and thoughtful post. Thanks. Allow me to quibble a bit. Or maybe I'm just playing wit'cha; you judge.

    Just whose definition of "Right" and "Wrong" are we going to use?

    Well, mine, of course silly. None of the rest of you appear to have a clue.

    Jesus had no problem with slavery ...

    Nor do I. Earlier in life, I held many jobs which felt a lot like slavery. I'm sure T. Jefferson's slaves were often treated better than I was. If I were allowed to actually sell myself into slavery, it would've made for a more honest transaction.

    So rather than trying to hang people in the Fun-House mirror that morality is, seeing as there is no "Morality" outside of human interpretation. It would behoove us to come up with something a little more utilitarian, and a wee bit less subjective.

    I think Aristotle already got that one for us. We love that which we see in others that we already appreciate in ourselves (or something like that). The problem with morality is it's always a moving target. Shivving Nazis in the back in Warsaw in 1939 would have been a dream job for me had I been alive then. I'm pretty sure that's illegal now, not to mention frowned upon.

    Personally, I vote for workability.

    Ah, a pragmatist. "Whatever works." I'm an idealist. "Things as they could, and should, be." If you have a wife and kids, pragmatism is the only way to go ("Happy wife makes a happy life"). Howard Hughes (and Neil Armstrong and Jimmie Doolittle and Marie Curie and Curtis LeMay ...) wouldn't have been happy being a pragmatist.

    For the child rapist, molester, abuser, we have a city, on an island.

    Heinlein's Coventry. I'm all for it.

    You ever notice, nobody has a problem with gravity.

    I beg to differ. I've been fighting gravity all my life. I hated skinning my knees as a kid, I hated falling off bicycles, and re-entry prior to safe landing on the surface of planets pees me off no end. You blow all that energy getting up there; you'd think it was energy banked for the future, but no! Damn.

    Workability should aspire to be like that. Simple, quick, compassionate, and resolute. You just remove the source of difficulty and treat people like human beings until they prove otherwise.

    On that, we agree; basic game theory. Don't forget to have fun doing it, though.

    Oh, and life begins in October; Post-Season Baseball!

    --
    "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
  239. Re:It's all tied together by tqk · · Score: 1

    A good person is one who does good. A bad person is one who does bad.

    so if you were an actor and had to shoot someone in a scene, and i replaced your prop gun with a real loaded weapon so you shot them for real you would be a bad person?

    You've a very shallow definition of "does". Shallow as a pane of glass.

    --
    "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
  240. Re:It's all tied together by Genda · · Score: 1

    Actually double standard is probably not the correct phrasing... sexist maybe, like women don't share in the responsibility for the sexual act. I think the issue at hand involves a little context however. For instance there's never been a case of a woman slipping men Roofies to have sex with them, while the number of women being Roofied seems to be growing exponentially. The number of men who have ever been raped by women numbers in what... small single digits? One in three women in the US will be raped in their lifetime. That's what, $55,000,000 women give or take, and that's just the US, in countries where women are object or property or worse, rape is as common as passing gas. In fact millions of women are sold into sexual slavery, some as early as late infancy. Men, not so much. So yeah, its true, men don't get a fair shake in the whole drunk sex vs. rape thing. However, if you look at it in the context that our male dominated society tends to use women as semen receptacles... a little backlash is maybe not a bad thing, and if all it does is make you think twice about engaging in stupid, irresponsible, potentially dangerous activities, then maybe alls well that ends well.

  241. Re: locks and keys??? by almechist · · Score: 1

    A key that opens many locks is a master key. A lock that can be opened by many keys is a shitty lock.

    Not saying I agree with it, but the analogy fits fairly well.

    Why exactly is the lock associated with (as I presume you must mean) the female, while the male gets to be the key? Why not the other way round? When you think about it, the whole analogy makes very little sense, in fact it's really nothing but thinly disguised male-supremacist propaganda. I'm guessing you probably first learned it from some religious text or religious authority figure, very likely Christian. Which is rather interesting, don't you think?

  242. Not excusable. by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

    Let the law work. That's what it's for. How dare anonymous think that they have some right or obligation to do what they did. Suppose they have the wrong guy? This very thing has happened before and is why we have the law in the first place. Suppose this fellow they think did it gets whacked, then they find out he wasn't even the guy? That has happened before too.

    Learn from the past, don't repeat bad parts of it.

  243. Re:It's all tied together by tqk · · Score: 1

    Child porn (aka the picture of Amanda's breasts) is a felony.

    That's the sort of attitude that tied what's her name up in the courts for years for a "wardrobe malfunction."

    Why in hell are we fussing about this stuff in the 21st Century? It ties up the courts, it leads kids to kill themselves, ...

    --
    "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
  244. Re:It's all tied together by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

    This may be my main mistake. You see, I have Asperger's. I have no empathy.

    Therefore I have to form my morals by logical assumptions.

    The logical assumptions that have the longest documented history in the west is Catholicism.

    I have NO idea how to form morals on my own from an imaginary emotion. And strongly suspect, based on the philosophy I've seen come out of atheism in the last 200 years, that atheists don't either.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  245. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dude, there are guys who will try to pick up girls too drunk to walk. There is a difference between "she's had a couple of drinks and wants to have sex" and "lets carry this strange girl and try to convince the bouncer that I'm her friend."

  246. Re: locks and keys??? by MachDelta · · Score: 1

    Why exactly is the lock associated with (as I presume you must mean) the female, while the male gets to be the key? Why not the other way round?

    There's no gender conspiracy involved. It's entirely a product of society. Now, you'll have to pick your favourite theory as to why women are generally viewed as the gatekeepers of sex (and I'm not saying I agree with them or am taking a prescriptive stance on gender roles here), but perception tends to be reality in many social constructs. It's entirely plausible to imagine a society and/or biology where males are the sexual gatekeepers; but we don't happen to live in one of those realities at this period of time.

    When you think about it, the whole analogy makes very little sense, in fact it's really nothing but thinly disguised male-supremacist propaganda.

    Again, no conspiracy on my part. It's just humour - admittedly poor humour (but that's sort of the point) - that answers the question that was asked. The interpretation that it's callous, misogynistic, etc is entirely valid, but it's also a part of the explanation - the insensitivity of the joke is a clue as to why it happens to be true. Chalk that up to whatever gender-inequality theory that you prefer.

    I'm guessing you probably first learned it from some religious text or religious authority figure, very likely Christian.

    An interesting theory, and a perfectly reasonable guess, but sadly it's not accurate. I'm not religious (I'm an atheist at best; an anti-theist at worst) nor was I brought up to be. As for the quote, I bumped into it somewhere else on the internet.

    I understand why you would be offended. I knew full well that it was a risque comment (you should see the moderation I received for it. I think I actually managed to get every single mod possible!) and that's fine, I have karma to burn and usually I'm not easily offended. The point wasn't to incite anyone though. Mostly it was just a bit of lame humour, but buried deep down there was a backhanded comment on society too. My apologies if I missed the mark on that.

  247. Re:It's all tied together by psiclops · · Score: 1

    in the above scenario, shooting them is something he did.

    if you need a different example, say you have donated 10's of thousands of dollars to what you thought was a great charity (thorough their legitimate looking website), yes was in fact an extremist terrorist group who committed some grand atrocity. you have then provided material support to terrorists. - you were trying to donate to charity which would be good, however you in fact provided material support to terrorists - bad.

    in the same example say you knew they were not a charity but simply thought they would use the money to lobby congress/organise protests whatever to change peoples opinions towards their cause and were unaware they would commit horrendous acts.

    or perhaps you knew exactly what they were doing but after weighing up the pros/cons were under the belief that the horrendous terrorist act would be of net benefit to society.

    what if you were under the belief that only people who share your beliefs mattered and knew it would be of detriment others but of positive gain for your group.

    in all of the above situations, you have provided material support to terrorists which has helped them commit horrendous acts. therefore by the definition "A good person is one who does good. A bad person is one who does bad." all the above would make you a bad person.

    --
    i spent five minutes thinking and all i got was this crappy sig
  248. Re:It's all tied together by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

    So the answer should be to 'create' more rape victims? Once everything is rape, rape becomes acceptable. "Oh, you were in prison for rape? So what did you do, not call her after the sex?".

    What is needed is some common sense. If someone spikes a woman's drink or slips her drugs and has sex with her unconscious body, then that is rape. But if a woman drinks or takes drugs, then decides to have sex in that altered mental state, who are we to call that rape? She chose to consume those substances, knowing that they can influence her decisions. And the same thing goes for men. Both sexes need to take responsibility for their actions, not blame others for 'taking advantage' of them.

  249. Re:It's all tied together by mdielmann · · Score: 1

    It sounds like an end-run to get around some unusual sexual behaviour without having to pass some new laws. We can give prior consent to have various organs removed while we're unconscious, but we can't give prior consent to have sex while unconscious? And I imagine that not a single couple who slept in the same bed didn't have sex initiated while one of the partners was asleep (he said sarcastically).

    --
    Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
  250. What a slut by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According to wikipedia, the main issue of her flashing the camera, I can forgive that - bad decisions and all that, though I find it rather disturbing the person knew so much about her - either it was someone she knew or she was extremely careless about her personal information. Especially that part about the message being sent to the entire school - that sounds like a fellow student.

    Then there was the sex, why on earth would she do that? I don't care if she knew about the girlfriend or not, but you'd think she would have learned that people only wanted to take advantage of her and she gave them what they want.

  251. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, they all do. People believing in imaginary friends really, really, really hard doesn't make them one less bit imaginary. Enjoy your delusion, but don't annoy those of us who don't need it to be responsible and ethical human beings.

  252. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're kidding, right?

    I don't know of anyone or anyone I've ever heard of that considers tricking a girl like that to be "good, clean fun" - it's exactly the opposite AND THAT'S WHY IT'S ATTRACTIVE TO THEM. They get the thrill of doing something they don't feel they'll get caught doing but know it's illegal, immoral, or such.

    Consent isn't always equal to permission, ever hear of statutory rape?

  253. Re:It's all tied together by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

    Apparently you haven't debated this topic with people from Planned Parenthood recently. Near as I can tell, they're all about enabling statutory rape.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  254. good move by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

    Now the cops have no choice but to look into the info that anonymous has posted, and i can guarantee you Anonymous were thorough....
    If the cops still do nothing after this, then they are douche bags.... and let Anonymous continue .....either way Anonymous did the right thing...
    give up info to get the guy arrested....cops go after that info, arrest the guy....
    or give up info to get the guy arrested....cops dont go after the guy, but vigilantes do,
    either way, that guy will get whats coming to him.

    Good job guys! ~~_\|/_~~

  255. Re:It's all tied together by curunir · · Score: 1

    Morality is more or less an extension to Empathy. "I can see how action X will make Y feel bad, and I would not like anyone to do it to me either".

    Religion takes morality in at least one direction beyond what you describe...they feel the need proselytize/impose their system of morals on others. If you limited morality to what you describe, there would be no war on drugs, insistence on teaching abstinence in schools and other areas where religious people feel the need to control what they see as immorality in others.

    Whether you see it as an improved morality or a over-extended morality, religion definitely has an effect on people's morality.

    --
    "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"
  256. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ORLY? Source? The societal vs. biological origins of gender rules for promiscuity are at best debatable (and results vary from study to study in so many ways that it remains highly controversial).

    Lacking reproducibility enough to make this accepted knowledge, the phrase 'men do not and probably never see' is just you projecting from 'some research supports the historical religious narrative' to 'it therefore must be'. Problem is, other research points VERY strongly to promiscuity perceptions being entirely cultural. Nurture, rather than nature.

    And let's not even go down the path of instinct attracting women to promiscuous men. There's so much cultural baggage, counterexamples and pre/post relationship shifts in individual perceptions that tagging it with heredity or instinct is just handwavy bullshit.

    captcha: retard.

  257. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Even in Australia, it is not clear that this would be prosecutable offense under felony murder. The link between the felony and the suicide may not be strong enough.

    What I wrote: I think you'll have difficulty establishing sufficient connection between the actual event of her death and said felony ...

    Far from it being "unclear" as to whether it would be prosecutable as felony murder in Australia (or at least in NSW), it think it is clear that it could not.

    Though felony murder has been abolished by statute in the UK, the Mens rea in murder requires only intent to injure. Thus, in practice, the law has not diverged from other common law jurisdictions ...

    Whereas felony murder requires neither intent either to kill nor to injure, but only the intent to commit the felony (or indictable offence) in question. These are radically different mens rea requirements, and have very different outcomes for classes of accused (eg. get-away drivers).

    ... as much as you would have thought.

    Before you try to tell me what I would have thought, you should begin by attempting to comprehend what it was I wrote.

  258. Re:It's all tied together by geirlk · · Score: 1

    While I won't directly dismiss that statement, I do see that imposing a set of moral values on others aren't exclusive to religion. I do see it too in my home country, Norway, in the affairs of the state. Many would call it a social democratic nanny state.

    A typical example, that most norwegians would tell you about, the alcohol policies:
    When other countries say their beer is expensive, we just laugh. Because we have one of the most restrictive alcohol policies in the world (except a few muslim states). It's not banned, but has such a high tax it's outright ridiculous. Example from a few years back: One 70cl bottle of vodka: Price to Norway = 7NOK. Tax: 230NOK. Only the "Vinmonopolet" ("The wine monopoly", and yes, that is actually the real name..) are allowed to sell alcohol stronger than 4,7% outside of pubs and restaurants.
    But this being a secular country, is this based on religion or politics? Hard to say, as "we" pride ourselves on our "christian heritage" (me being a heretic, not so much..), but the state is supposed to be secular. It was introduces at a point in time when christianity stood a lot stronger here than today, but that is no excuse today as Norway is the most secular country in the world. Morality through tax policies, that's how we roll. How does this enter into the issue of morality? Because the argument for this strict policy is that "some people become alcoholics, therefor we have to restrict it for everyone. Alcohol poses high costs to the state in form of health issues, therefor the state has to imbue taxes to cover these costs".

    Thing is, I see religion trying to copyright moral as something inherent to religion. I do believe that is false. Any sufficiently smart human being can see that it is logical to follow atleast six or seven of the ten commandments, and that the rest is optional. That most religions adhere to a stricter set of self imposed (and somewhat illogical, depending on view) moral codes, I do not doubt. But what we would consider moral varies wildly.

  259. Anonymous did the right thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anonymous did the right thing: shutdown that sex starved monkey (turned predator of vulnerable little girls). My question is why the hell didn't law enforcement catch that asshole with all their invasion of privacy snooping, & crime servers running precrime psyche algorithms? Could it be they don't know what the hell they are doing? Regardless, anonymous could have forwarded the info to law enforcement discreetly just in case the suspect was set up by a hacker. But that runs the risk of authorities dragging their feet for inexcusablely dumb reasons while that asshole assaults other girls in this particular way. Say no to accepting casualties for a flawed system. Whenever you get a chance to stop an innocent girl's life from being taken, you intervene without hesitation.

  260. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Man shut the hell up. She was ashamed because girls that age are naturally shy. That asshole took advantage of this fact to manipulate her. The girl apparently had no one effectively protecting her - no one to turn to. I am not suggesting that law enforcement should spy on everything and everyone. But if they already are, refine your algorithms you useless bastards.

  261. don't forget the Hook on that by RobertLTux · · Score: 1

    if somebody is being stupid (because they are a kid) then it should not prevent them from getting a decent job later

    but if they are an Evil Genius In Training then a "sealed" juvie record can get Unsealed
    (i think in Criminal Minds Penelope cracked a few Juvie records for some of the UnSubs.)

    Thats why Trial as An Adult is a weapon in the Juvie system.

    --
    Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
    1. Re:don't forget the Hook on that by Whorhay · · Score: 1

      If there were no juvie record seperation you likely wouldn't have people not getting jobs because of childhood foolishness. Because we have historically done the sealing ofthose records though we probably would have a period of time where unsealing them would cause some social strife but I don't think it would be all that long lived. And it might actually cut down on some of the stupid stuff kids do. I probably heard the statement "We're kids, what could they do?" in conversations about various idiotic stunts we talked about. And while I managed to never get in trouble with the law I have a number of friends who spent time in jail and prison. What you are worried about is a symptom from our existing system.

      Having to get the records unsealed creates extra expense and waste in the system.

      That doesn't mean we should keep it in the arsenal of Justice. Every accused criminal should be tried on the merits of their own case and not by and arbitrary rule that has such large consequences. Another good arbitrary rule is that a person with an IQ of 60 and lower is legally retarded and hence protected by a large body of laws and precedents. That sounds good until you realize that it means a person with an IQ of 61 gets treated exactly the same as an individual with an IQ of 150. A prime example of that case was some guy in Texas that last I heard they were trying to execute, I mean seriously, it costs more to kill him than to just keep him locked up indefinitely and he's borderline retarded but they insisted on putting him to death.

  262. ...wat ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They already realized it's a lead that was a waste of time and could have potentially ruined that guys life.

  263. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It stems from the biological programming that you're more likely to be the father of a woman's children who doesn't sleep around. It's deeply encoded into our genes. Our biology isn't going to catch up with the fact that we have paternity tests + birth control any time soon.

    Also, I don't know any one personally who sees anything that great about a man who has banged 100 women either. Not being selective about anything you choose in life is never going to be a positive trait. That being said, it is much more difficult for a man to have sex with many women, than women to get sex from men. That is going to naturally make it -more- of an accomplishment, as stupid of an accomplishment as it is.

    Women are naturally designed to keep men out of their vagina unless they're a suitable partner, a woman not doing this is naturally going to be seen by men (as well as other women) as worth less than someone who does. Promiscuity is also more often seen in "creatures" that have low parental involvement, it is still considered criteria for mental disorders in both men and women for a reason. Contrary to stupid facebook memes, there is a form of male Nymphomania known as satyriasis.

  264. Re:It's all tied together by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a powerful tool because deep down everyone knows that not being selective about anything is associated with poor reasoning, impulse control, etc.

    I thought people on Slashdot liked science.

  265. Whats Fair is Fair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank You Anonymous :) Sometimes you need to be our justice when justice fails us...

    Bless

  266. Re:It's all tied together by robsku · · Score: 1

    Seems to me that theist governments have not been doing that well either...

    Of course the reasons have little to do with that - except that theist countries with bloody history often justify their horrors via religion, but I don't blame the religion for that, nor atheism for that matter. In the end it's politics - people can be theists or atheists, governments are not people. And people have a skill to come up with ethics without religion telling them - as well as ignoring them despite of religion telling them.

    At least atheists don't get to put blame on some imaginary higher being for their actions.

    P.S. Not atheist myself. Not christian either.

    --
    In capitalist USA corporations control the government.
  267. Re:It's all tied together by cavebison · · Score: 1

    Society's rejection of morality and ethics leads to this. Atheism leads to this.

    That is a ridiculously irrational statement. Someone committing a crime somehow indicates that "society rejects morality"? What "society" are you talking about exactly? Do you think crime never existed in the past and is somehow a result of modern times? Do you realise Atheists are a minority in most countries, and in the U.S. believing in God is practically a requirement to be President?

    Extremists also make gross generalisations about "the failure of society". It's a childish way of looking at the world, to paint everything the same colour, by people who can't handle the world being a complex place full of many different lifestyles and beliefs.

  268. Re:It's all tied together by cavebison · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure you don't need to believe in God to consider rape and murder unethical, immoral, and just wrong.

    Correct, but keep in mind ethics/morality are simply human constructs that suit a particular context. During a war, mass murder is justified. Capital punishment has been justified for ages and still is. There is no consensus on the ethics of incarceration either. One can argue that many types of punishment, eg. incarceration, are simply designed to make victims and wider society "feel better", over any other concerns that may actually be more ethical but less emotionally satisfying.

    Taking a wider view, you may observe that nature does not adhere to any sense of justice, ethics or morality, at least in any human definition of the term. In nature, rape, murder, genocide, infanticide, cannibalism and injecting your parasitic young into other unsuspecting creatures are all the "right" things to do. Morality is purely and only a function of human emotions and motivations.

    Or, to be more accurate, morality is a function of any highly social species, whose individuals need to work together in structured ways to achieve common goals. Ethics and morality are frameworks for species survival, nothing more.

    Ethics, therefore, is certainly independent of the concept of "gods", but that does not mean religion - for all its flaws - hasn't also been a very effective way to consolidate and enforce established ethical guidelines. That is, to give society a definite structure, which is essential for any socially cooperative species. However we now have a more "forgiving" (ironically) form of government these days, in Democracy and Rule of Law, which - again, for all its flaws - is effective at giving society the structure it needs so we can all die of old age instead of syphilis.

  269. Re:It's all tied together by torgis · · Score: 1

    And Marilyn Manson. He's still a bad guy, right?

  270. Sign of the Times by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perhaps this is a wake up call to the government to start treating cases such as this seriously instead of simply giving them lip service.

    There's no reason that abusers should be able to hide behind their computer screens and wreak havoc on anyone they choose as a victim without consequence.

    If someone communicates with someone else, they should be identifiable to the person to whom they choose to communicate so that the recipient might make an informed decision as to whether or not they want the communication. Same goes for the telephone. No spoofing allowed. If you choose to block your number, it's shown as blocked, otherwise your number and identity is clearly displayed.

    If you want privacy, don't use public communications channels.

  271. Anonymous Outing OnLine Psychological Child Abuser by Transaction7 · · Score: 1

    I'm a retired Texas lawyer with more personal and professional knowledge about suicide than anyone should have, and a strong believer in personal privacy. I'm not up on the details of British Columbia and Canadian law but they do not have some of the restrictions on search and seizure, or liberal protections for speech and press, that we do in the U.S., and have outlawed some forms of actual or alleged hate speech that, for better or worse, we cannot. Here in Texas, it has long been a crime either to aid or to abet or encourage in individual to commit suicide, which law provides only a fine unless death or serious bodily injury results, in which event the crime in a felony carrying up to a ten year prison term. Our family and penal law also cover serious psychological child abuswe resulting in harm. Missouri enacted a law dealing with encouraging suicide after the infamous Lori Drew case. Trust me on this one, a vulnerable child or teen, etc., can be pushed to commit suicide by psychological child abuse. I have known and represented several children who had survived serious suicide attempts. One child client begged me to kill her. The best evidence available to me indicates that the completed suicide of one Texas child at nine was essentially the product of psychological abuse by peers. Indeed, any such attempt or completed suicide should be investigated for underlying child abuse. I was very close to one case where a six year old child was terrorized and thus prevented from reporting and identifying the perpetrator of sexual abuse and it turned out that the abuser making the threat was too young to qualify as a juvenile delinquent. Unfortunately, in my view, I cannot find a reported case where anyone has been prosecuted for or convicted of psychological child abuse. This is a much more serious problem than most people understand and realize.

  272. Re:It's all tied together by AbominousSalad · · Score: 1

    Poetically stated. +0 Insightful because I don't have mod points today (and would have commented /way/ too much to give any out anyway.)

    --
    Every trollism an AC posts is prefixed, in my mind, with "A. Coward whined, in a weak and cowardly voice:"
  273. Re:It's all tied together by ClioCJS · · Score: 1

    She is shy because she's been taught to be shy about her body for the exact reasons I outlined in my original post. If this was a nudist colony it would be no issue. Your "she is how she is because that's how people are" circular logic seems to be the kind of argument christians tend to use.

    --
    -Clio
    Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
    Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com