Hacker News Reader

Comment by Overtonwindow | Hacker News Reader

They're all jumping ship now. I hope congress, or the FBI, hold some of these people responsible for the mess they've created, and take Equifax to the woodshed.

View on HN

We must first establish what laws we believe we they have broken and that are likely to be provable beyond reasonable doubt in court. I'd rather due process than revenge without due process.

I'd rather they be treated as many American's are when they have their first encounter with police who believe they committed a crime...that is rarely aligned with a presumption of innocence.

You aren't wrong in a theoretical sense, but I am all for equality before the law as a precursor to due process. Due process without equitable treatment means very little except to those at the top.

So you would rather people be treated shitty like everyone else than treat everyone else better?

Selective enforcement of a shitty law is arguably worse for society then across the bar even enforcement of that law. In the latter case, there are less groups that will prevent change.

no...I very intentionally did not say that. I said that until everyone is treated with some reasonable equity the distinction between shitty and better is academic because the better never trickles down.

New regulation can impact them significantly without violating due process.

Just deciding that they aren't operating in the public interest and revoking their charters probably wouldn't violate due process. Not in fashion though.

The reasonable doubt burden is high but don't worry about the company, we don't even get there when there isn't any criminal liability for what looks like the reckless disclosure of vast quantities of private info.

"or the FBI, hold some of these people responsible"

Hopefully, this then will create a different culture in other companies. Things did change after Enron (though SOX is such a pain).

I'm pessimistic we'll see anything even close to Enron. When the big banks collapsed, none of the executives went to jail. I doubt we'll see that here, but it would send a powerful message if the inept VP of IT at Equifax was paraded in front of the cameras in handcuffs, and the CEO held personally responsible. There's a corporate shell enjoyed by major American companies. At this point I wonder: What would have to happen for the CEO of a major company to go to jail?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com