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Comment by DanWeinreb | Hacker News Reader

I totally agree about the families. That's way, way over the line. IANAL so I don't know whether there are actually laws being broken here, but there might be; freedom of speech in US law has exceptions for threats and putting people into harm and so on. The problem is that it may be hard to find out whom to prosecute; the name "Anonymous" is there for a reason. A lot of very bad things can be done behind a mask of anonymity, just as good things can be (c.f. Tor servers to help dissidents).

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From my reading of the Ars article, the only thing illegal they did is the ordering of pizzas. Even the digging through his trash is perfectly legal in most jurisdictions. Is what they're doing right? I don't know, but actions have consequences.

You might want to read up on the laws regarding digging through trash. If the trash is on your property - it's illegal. Even if its in your driveway waiting for pickup, it's still illegal to go through. Also, In most states dumpster diving at any business is considered a felony.

Citation needed. I tried to figure out which one of us is correct, or at least more correct and this is the best I could do: http://www.opsecprofessionals.org/articles/dumpsterdiving.ht...

As always, depends on state and local ordnances. If you are on private property you can always get hit with trespass, but the actual trash picking is typically legal. Many licensed PIs make their living going through other people's trash. In short, buy a shredder.

You are correct in terms of state and local ordinances, and I did do some more research and came up with the landmark case of CALIFORNIA v. GREENWOOD, 486 U.S. 35 (1988) where this very issue was argued before the Supreme Court: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US...

It basically says if your trash is visible, you can't assume privacy of the contents. If it's inside your garage, then it's off limits. Interesting case nonetheless.

Some of the conversations could be construed as illegal (at least in my jurisdiction).

Quote:

NightSkies: lets kill sonys families

whirrior: it would be more effective to go down to sony headquarters and start the building on fire

D1sc0n3kt: whirrior cut the dope

NightSkies: why dont we just head down o sony and say fuck u

NightSkies: and smash their faces in

whirrior: now that is a protest

That conversation is illegal? Sounds like a lot of hot air to me. How many Anons do you think have the balls to do something like "go down to Sony and smash their faces in?"

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