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Comment by goshx | Hacker News Reader

To ban comments is an important step IMHO, but how about putting the people making the comments behind bars? They will keep watching these videos.

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> Ban comments is an important step IMHO, but how about putting the people making the comments behind bars?

That's...out of YouTube’s legal authority.

> They will keep watching these videos.

Watching the videos itself is neither illegal nor harmful to anyone, even if it may correlates with conduct that is either or both.

Sadly, you are probably right.

> Sadly, you are probably right.

Are you sad that viewing the content in question isn't harmful? Or that it isn't illegal? Or that YouTube—Google, IOW—can’t unilaterally imprison people whose behavior it disapproves of?

Both of your statements.

It's probably out of their legal authority and the act of watching a video is obviously not illegal nor harmful to anyone.

But that's is a very simplistic view of the situation.

> It's probably out of their legal authority

Probably? Is there an actual question about YouTube’s authority to order imprisonment? Because it seems to me that should be a bigger story than them cutting off comments on videos with kids in them.

Obviously, YouTube can't imprison anyone.

What I am saying "probably" is about what they could do to initiate an investigation on someone that might lead to imprisonment.

There's no law making creepy comments like these illegal, at least not in the US. (I can't speak for other countries, and US law is what's relevant here.)

That doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't be investigated.

For what? They haven't done anything illegal.

I just believe there should be no tolerance for pedophiles.

If someone is behaving as a sexual predator online, you ought to suspect that's what they actually are.

> no tolerance for pedophiles.

Note that this is different from:

> sexual predator

The former is an ill person; the latter a criminal. Your call for no tolerance for anyone with a certain disease, no matter whether they know it's unacceptable and can cope with suppressing it, is a little too broad in my opinion.

I doubt a creepy comment is sufficient probable cause to open an investigation, barring other indicators.

A google search has been sufficient before. Remember the pressure cooker and backpacks search from a family in New York?

A Google search was not sufficient in that case. The guy's employer tipped them off after firing him - it wasn't some sort of automated keyword monitoring at Google.

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/governm...

The search alone wasn't sufficient, but was enough to start it all. In YouTube's cases, there are plenty of comments that demonstrate someone is a sexual predator. In my view, if someone "tipped them off", it would be the exact same scenario.

"A random person on the internet is posting creepy comments" is likely not probable cause, especially as you'd have to convince someone national like the FBI to care without a specific location.

"Someone I know personally is posting creepy comments, and I've always gotten a bad vibe about their interactions with kids" is probably enough to get local cops interested enough to knock on a door.

I hope not. Unless there is evidence of a crime that has occurred or evidence that a crime is planned, they have no business (constitutionally) bothering a citizen based on that kind of tip. This is how lives are ruined when there are no victims.

This is an extremely dangerous tendency we have as a society, to throw out the concepts of freedom and due process and justice when children are involved. There's 0 reason to "investigate" someone that leaves a pervy comment on a kid's video, and they're free to have whatever fantasies they want. Anything coming close to investigating someone for something like that is too close to the thought police and sounds like 3rd world Big Brother crap.

Some of the comments would have been covered by https://definitions.uslegal.com/c/child-enticement/

How do you find them? Are you going to start forcing everyone to log in to view videos? And forcing everyone with a google account to verify themselves as a genuine person, with personally identifiable information?

Anonymity brings out the worst of some people, sure, but the damage of taking away anonymity is substantially more dangerous IMO.

And really, yeah, these people are complete creeps... but how does that affect anyone?

Well, the people leaving the comments aren't actually doing anything illegal. Nor are the people that aggregate these videos with the intent to appeal to pedophiles. That's what makes this such a difficult issue to combat.

  > how about putting the
  > people making the
  > comments behind bars?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Emphasis added

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