Indiana County Decides Not To Charge Redbox After Public Outcry
from the lawsuit-by-public-opinion-poll dept
Last week we wrote about how prosecutors in Indiana were threatening to file criminal charges against Redbox execs unless the company agreed to remove R-rated movies from its kiosks. The whole thing was instigated by brick-and-mortar video stores who didn't like competing with Redbox's $1 video rentals. However, as news spread about this threat, it seems that the residents of that county raised their voices and let the prosecutor know they wanted to keep their Redbox and its R-rated movies. The prosecutor noted that the standard for whether this was a problem was "community standards," and the community made it loud and clear to him that they wanted the Redbox kiosks to stay:"It's not an exact barometer -- I didn't take a poll -- but it just seemed pretty clear to me that the community would not be behind the prosecution of this," Stan Levco said during Friday's news conference.While it's good that he's backed down, I'm still not sure which is more troubling, that he initiated the threats at the behest of competitors, or that public outcry alone was enough to get him to back down.
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Filed Under: dvds, indiana, movie rentals, movies
Companies: redbox
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Pron rights activists 1 Store owner 0
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Re: Pron rights activists 1 Store owner 0
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Are you sure this article is taking place in the US?
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Re:
So far as i can tell, politicians usually only seem to listen to genuine public outcry (rather than lobbyists and their analogs) when said outcry is hopelessly misguided.
That or at the point of armed uprising with the army refusing to do anything about it
(this is discounting those times that said outcry is against their opponents and/or happens to line up with what they wanted to push Anyway, of course)
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How is that exactly ?
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Questions ... Is he an elected official? What happens if people hire someone to pull his phone records and bank records?
I think it is more fear of getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar than actually doing something right.
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I'm normally behind you but.....
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Re: I'm normally behind you but.....
I'm just worried about a prosecutor who totally responds to public whims. In this case it was good, but it can also lead to lynchmob mentality in the other direction too... Remember what happened with the Lori Drew case? I want prosecutors who study the issue based on the facts, not on public perception...
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Re: Re: I'm normally behind you but.....
The public at large should decide what laws are needed and when certain laws should not be pursued. Should the a man who kills someone in defense of his life or that of another be sent to jail? I think most would say no. Yet neither should someone be arrested for breaking a law that doesn't exist. The Lori Drew incident is a case where, if the public really did not like what happened, they should have chalked it up to a lesson learned and started trying to put a new law on the books (mind you, I'm not saying I'd support said law).
In theory a jury is supposed to do exactly what happened here, but in practice most jurors don't even understand their own rights and responsibilities. Failing that as a reliable method, I think listening to the people in this case is a decent substitute, though I do agree that taken too far it could go really bad as well.
I think my main reason for supporting caving to the will of the people in this case is that it was pursued as a indecency or or other "community standards" style thing, and the community speaking up to decry the case was a perfectly valid defense. Though, I just plain didn't like the first amendment implications of the case and I think any reason to get rid of it might have made me happy.
P.S. Kudos for posting after Midnight ^_^
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Re: Re: Re: I'm normally behind you but.....
Fair enough...
P.S. Kudos for posting after Midnight ^_^
Sleep is for the weak. ;P
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I'm normally behind you but.....
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I'm normally behind you but.....
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I'm normally behind you but.....
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oops
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17?
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Re: 17?
Oh, by the way, do you have internet access? Then your kid has already seen hard-core porn. Guaranteed. But look on the bright side: he probably hasn't done meth yet.
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Re: 17?
(And if not, and your young child is stealing your credit card and making a habit of walking to stores by himself to rent movies, perhaps you should question just what the hell kind of parent you are in the first place.)
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Re: 17?
Welcome to europe, japan, etc where you can buy beer, tobacco, and porn from machines on street corners ... the rest of the world isnt a nanny state.
"Am I the only one as a parent that thinks this is bad?"
In a word "yes" learn to watch you kids and not rely on the government to do it for you. Learn to teach you kids what they can and cant do. dont rely on a nanny state to take care of or protect them. That is your job as a parent. Take some responsibility.
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Re: 17?
I bet the people who most strongly object to this are panty-sniffing, foot-worshipping, rubbered-up complete and total gimps.
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Re: $
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Banks around here will only open accounts for minors with an adult cosigner. Perhaps you should "get real" and quit cosigning accounts for your kids if they're using them to rent movies they shouldn't.
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Re: Re: Re: $
You can walk into any grocery and get a cash card...
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Re: Re: Re: Re: $
And then use it with a fake ID at the local video rental store.
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BP the POS
Nice. You start an argument based on "but what about the CHILDREN??!?" and then when you are called out for not being a responsible parent and trying to foist off your inadequacy onto lawmakers and everyone else, you cut and run and throw out the classic bail-out, "but thats not the issue here."
This IS the problem we are discussing now. YOU started it. You made your bed, now lie in it.
You might want to take more of an interest in what your children are up to, take some responsibility for it, and stop trying to get everyone else in the world to change their lives to work around your shortcomings.
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Re: BP the POS
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Sad....big changes coming..
GO INDIES!
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R-Rated movie
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Trying new attempt
Yes I own a small brick and mortar video store, so who cares. I am also a parent of two kids. I refuse R rated movies to kids on a daily basis. Yes they both have debit cards on the bank accounts they work to add to with theirt own hard earned money. A kid can also go to just about any Walmart, Target or? and purchase a debit card to use.
Will be interested to see how it goes.
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