Maybe I'm confused. How can it be a natural right if it requires a government for it to exist?
Perhaps I don't understand what a natural right is, but I thought it was a right that needed no government to give it.
I think that is an interesting point, but also it's easily falsified. However, I agree with the underlying point.
Slavery was abolished by governments. I think we can agree that before and after that event, the same relevant natural rights existed (albeit ignored beforehand).
Indeed, in many parts of the world sexual slavery still exists in the form of human trafficking.
The fact is that in many cases natural rights are not magically observed in the absence of government protection, but that doesn't mean those rights don't exist.
Again I agree with the underlying point but the explanation simply does not stand to scrutiny.
This is exactly why police should not be by default at odds with civil liberties activists. They should be screening people out like this at the interview stage.
They already do a lie detector test and psychological screening, but yet from what I've heard from friends applying there is no apparent effort to screen out racists/mysogynists or people who get sexually aroused at the prospect of martial law. But if you smoked a joint in the last 12 months? Can't be a cop. Those are some good priorities right there. I guess the CONSTITUTION doesn't rank as high as pot for police departments.
"The courts are making life difficult for the people, so I'm cancelling judicial authority."
"Everyone is protesting, and it's unproductive, so I'm going to cancel protests."
"We can't ensure safety at the polls, so we just going to cancel elections. No biggie. Don't worry I can still be your leader for the next 3 to 4 decades."
I wish there was some sort of "reverse DMCA" notice that we could issue to indicate that we want to buy their product, but it's not available at a reasonable price in the region.
"This product is not legally available in this area. Failure to comply within 5 business days legalizes all local infringements of said product."
Re: police in Finland raiding a home to seize a 9-year-old girl's Winnie the Pooh laptop over a file-sharing accusation
It's worth pointing out that if that laptop had been stolen, even if it had tracking software on it, they would have had a hell of a time getting the police to do anything with the case, much less raid someone's home.
So if a private citizen requests assistance from police in the case of a criminal theft of 1000s of dollars merchandise, they get nothing. If a big company requests the assistance of the police in a case of a couple dollars worth of civil copyright infringement, full police raid.
"Next up: Taxi drivers have to pay a fee to business when they drop off customers."
This reminds me of a situation at my job. There was a guy parking illegally in a handicap spot. I called the towing company. I found out later that it's common to charge the business to have cars towed away. That seems ripe for competition. Towing companies should want to advertise free towing and then offset their whole cost to the captive audience of the towed.
They are counted in a separate category, as potential problems.
If the votes are tallied without those ballots, and the divide between the winner and runner up are decided regardless of the problem ballots, then there is no issue. Otherwise, they end up in court.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Perhaps I don't understand what a natural right is, but I thought it was a right that needed no government to give it.
I think that is an interesting point, but also it's easily falsified. However, I agree with the underlying point.
Slavery was abolished by governments. I think we can agree that before and after that event, the same relevant natural rights existed (albeit ignored beforehand).
Indeed, in many parts of the world sexual slavery still exists in the form of human trafficking.
The fact is that in many cases natural rights are not magically observed in the absence of government protection, but that doesn't mean those rights don't exist.
Again I agree with the underlying point but the explanation simply does not stand to scrutiny.
On the post: Stop Saying 'If You're Not Paying, You're The Product'
http://xkcd.com/1150/
On the post: Police Chief Deploys Officers With Assault Rifles To Stop & ID Everyone; Says Local Crime Stats Give Him Probable Cause
Re: Re:
They already do a lie detector test and psychological screening, but yet from what I've heard from friends applying there is no apparent effort to screen out racists/mysogynists or people who get sexually aroused at the prospect of martial law. But if you smoked a joint in the last 12 months? Can't be a cop. Those are some good priorities right there. I guess the CONSTITUTION doesn't rank as high as pot for police departments.
On the post: Police Chief Deploys Officers With Assault Rifles To Stop & ID Everyone; Says Local Crime Stats Give Him Probable Cause
Re:
"The courts are making life difficult for the people, so I'm cancelling judicial authority."
"Everyone is protesting, and it's unproductive, so I'm going to cancel protests."
"We can't ensure safety at the polls, so we just going to cancel elections. No biggie. Don't worry I can still be your leader for the next 3 to 4 decades."
On the post: Victoria's Secret Doesn't Want To Be Associated With A Campaign About Respecting Women, Issues Takedown
Re: Can you blame them?
I'm with you Manfred. Women need to dissociate themselves from such a movement.
On the post: MPAA: Millions Of DMCA Takedowns Proves That Google Needs To Stop Piracy
Re: Re:
"This product is not legally available in this area. Failure to comply within 5 business days legalizes all local infringements of said product."
On the post: US Government Agencies Will Soon Be Able To Access Foreign Medical Dossiers Due To Patriot Act
Re: Own Goal
On the post: Fixing Copyright: Is Copyright A Part Of Free Market Capitalism?
On the post: Fixing Copyright: Is Copyright A Part Of Free Market Capitalism?
Re:
Sure he's a jerk but it's not like he's just shouting racist slurs (what I imagine the report button is for).
On the post: Homeless Man Who Got Free Boots From Cop Now 'Wants His Cut' Of YouTube Attention
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Winnie the Pooh
It's worth pointing out that if that laptop had been stolen, even if it had tracking software on it, they would have had a hell of a time getting the police to do anything with the case, much less raid someone's home.
So if a private citizen requests assistance from police in the case of a criminal theft of 1000s of dollars merchandise, they get nothing. If a big company requests the assistance of the police in a case of a couple dollars worth of civil copyright infringement, full police raid.
Seems fair.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
This reminds me of a situation at my job. There was a guy parking illegally in a handicap spot. I called the towing company. I found out later that it's common to charge the business to have cars towed away. That seems ripe for competition. Towing companies should want to advertise free towing and then offset their whole cost to the captive audience of the towed.
Anyways, kind of related.
On the post: Kevin Durant Sued Over 'Durantula' Trademark Despite Not Using It
On the post: Stuxnet's Infection Of Chevron Shows Why 'Weaponized' Malware Is A Bad Idea
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
On the post: The Public Apparently Isn't Interested In Sound Economics
Re:
On the post: The Public Apparently Isn't Interested In Sound Economics
On the post: Apple Changes Its UK Samsung 'Apology,' But Makes Sure You Have To Scroll To See It
Re: The Apple Effect?
On the post: New Jersey To Let 'Displaced' Voters Use Electronic Voting... If They Give Up Secrecy & Return A Hardcopy
They are counted in a separate category, as potential problems.
If the votes are tallied without those ballots, and the divide between the winner and runner up are decided regardless of the problem ballots, then there is no issue. Otherwise, they end up in court.
On the post: Why Do So Many People Rely On Facebook For Communications, Given Its Arbitrary Removal Process?
It's kind of like how people used myspace because lots of people were on myspace.
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