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Comment by lordfrito | Hacker News Reader

Totally agree. I'm not arguing we throw away the Bill of Rights. I like your other point, it will always be difficult to balance those rights while protecting military/security interests. It will always be touchy.

It's one thing to go to your city/county police/government and complain loudly about rights violations, provoke confrontation, etc. This is where due process matters most in my opinion, general rule of law and due process in day to day life.

It's another thing to provoke military and national security apparatus and assume you'll get the same basic response from law enforcement.

I think any wise adult would know its a touchy area, best to steer clear unless you have a good reason to provoke. The people that do so are usually (not always) spies or combative/mental/tinfoil hat people with some sort of imagined axe to grind. Fuck around and find out. Better them finding out than me.

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You should definitely not wear a short skirt while provoking the military and national security apparatus.

I mean, yeah, it may be no surprise what happens to you, and maybe you want to not do it, but when you say "fuck around and find out", you are excusing them.

Point well made.

This is not a military autocracy. Neither the military nor law enforcement should have any special privileges with regards to violating the law or the established rights of the citizens. Too many supposedly intelligent people have given up on the fight to keep "the law" within the bounds of the law, and it's escaped those bounds like kudzu.

What I'm saying is that national security is serious business, America has real enemies, and people seem to forget that and just shout "rights". I mean, if I was an enemy agent I would absolutely take advantage of due process rights afforded here to blur the line between espionage related activities and civil freedoms. It's an attack vector that's easy to exploit in freedom loving countries, one the feds and spooks pay close attention to.

If you go poking around a restricted base, taking photos, flying drones, don't be surprised when men in black start showing up in your life and making things difficult. I mean, is he purposely trying to make it look like he could be a foreign intelligence agent? I don't see how he can act surprised when they knocked down his door.

> but when you say "fuck around and find out", you are excusing them

No, it's more like I'm not excusing Arnu. His actions created this sticky situation. It was totally avoidable.

From the article:

> the hobbyist researcher says that America’s UFO mythology is little more than a smokescreen to hide the much more mundane reality of what goes on at Area 51: the testing of classified military projects and aircraft.

OK so he openly admits that the classified stuff is why he's so interested in Area 51.

> Most of these photos were not taken by me, I just published them

"Not my fault"... really?

> He adds that they were “not classified photos” and that they “were not taken from inside the boundary

Yeah he's a genius and is confident he will get off on a technicality

> One of the first things they wanted to know was: “Are there any booby traps on the property?” To Arnu, it seemed like a pretty weird thing to ask.

Sounds like this guy was purposely digging for dirt, got right up to the line, then acted surprised when the national security apparatus responded.

> Of course, Arnu had one particular hobby that he felt might be of interest to federal investigators: he had spent the last two decades tending to a popular blog about “Area 51

Hmmm... yeah maybe that's what this is all about. SMH

I don't have sympathy for the guy in the article. He's an instigator. And an idiot. Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

There are much bigger violations of due process in this country worth paying attention to.

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