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Comment by cornholio | Hacker News Reader

> no surprise there's been zero arrests for viewing illegal streams.

I can only fathom "viewing illegal streams" leading to arrest in the case of CSAM. Regardless of any staffing or resources, it's a complete travesty to arrest anyone for using their internet connection to view lawfully produced content.

The power to restrain the physical liberty is a substantial corollary of the state's monopoly on violence, which should be employed when those arrested are a menace to other peaceful citizens.

I could see law enforcement getting involved in copyright crimes committed by commercial pirates, issuing fines to consumers or identifying them to the rights holders who can then seek redress in a court of law.

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There are companies selling boxes which stream massive amounts of material they don't have the rights to, for very large profits.

Some teenager watching the latest game of thrones (or whatever's hip nowadays) because their parent doesn't subscribe to Sky, or because they were out when it was on, isn't really the same thing.

Nobody should ever be prosecuted for viewing or reading anything, anywhere. Doing so is a hallmark of a de-facto police state. It's a fundamental liberty we have forgotten about as the frog has slowly boiled over the last 40 years.

Do you honestly believe that viewing CSAM shouldn't be a crime? Is this really the logical end-point of this style of techo-libertarianism?

Yes. Imagine how easy it is to get people you dislike arrested with a bit[1] of CSAM.

On the other hand, I feel that creating and/or distributing CSAM should result in instant death for the creator.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Solon

EDIT: Creating and/or distributing.

This is just the tip of the iceberg:

Bluetooth keystroke-injection in Android, Linux macOS and iOS:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38661182

These laws which criminalize viewing or reading things need to go now.

Yes, absolutely. It is today's equivalent of moral puritanism. It is absolutey inconceivable to me that a 21st Century society could be prosecuting people for viewing images. Distributing and making those images should remain a crime, of course. But absolutely not viewing. And we can continue to shut down the sites hosting such material, and encourage those who come across them to report them.

It is not acceptable to prosecute someone for the act of viewing a web site, regardless of it's content. Doing so is absolute totalitarianism.

In a free society, people should be able to browse any part of the Web without fear of punishment, it is fundamental. That includes exploring the darknet, one of the most interesting parts of the Web, without having to fear prosecution for unintentionally coming across child pornography.

Yeah if it is tied to a larger / other crime I could see it happening if only because they're really looking into another issue.

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