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Comment by lagadu | Hacker News Reader

> requires the elevation of one person's rights over another. And that's not acceptable.

I'm sorry but that is senseless. Elevating certain rights over others is effectively the basis of any society. To use a crass example: it's widely accepted that your right to not be assaulted is elevated over another's right to assault you.

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What the hell are you talking about? There is no right to assault people. Talk about senseless...

I'm talking about actual rights, not fictitious insane rights like a right to punch people.

We both have a right to not be assaulted. I don't have a right to assault you, you don't have a right to assault me. However, if you assault me, you forgo your right to not be assaulted. I now have the right to assault you in self-defense.

At least, I think this is the logic. Not sure if self-defense counts as assault in a legal sense. A similar argument probably applies to police hitting people as well as forms of consensual violence.

Does the person who assaulted the other person in your scenario have a right for any record of it to be removed from the internet?

Depends on whether that person's state gave them that right or not.

How is that related to the argument that some rights are indeed elevated versus different rights?

In Western European societies: YES! Something like a public register of sex offenders is UNTHINKABLE in Germany. You get a sentence for your assault, but public shaming is not part of the punishment. That's not inherently worse or better then the American approach, it's just what most people here consider right and just. We consider people who break the law as human beings and citizens, and we strive to make them functioning members of the society.

Public shaming is distinct from hiding all the evidence of someone's past actions.

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