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Comment by guywithahat | Hacker News Reader

The FBI really shouldn’t be creating fake securities for people to buy. I don’t think any of the fake companies they make (including the secure phone one) should be allowed. It’s a bad use of taxpayer funds and it’s not how government should be arresting people

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I don’t mind it. They’re taking down seasoned scammers. We all agree they should be punished, now we’re just arguing about how to catch them.

If you want to be upset about government overreach, look into Richard Glossip’s case. He’s been on death row in Oklahoma for decades for a murder even Oklahoma agrees he didn’t commit, based on the false testimony of the actual murderer.

Why not?

A reasonable argument can be made that the government enticed people to break the law. In some jurisdictions (like Germany) this kind of behavior is illegal for the police to use, only the secret services can do so (but only very limited in scope, and their discoveries are all but impossible to share with police).

How did they entice anyone to commit a crime? They created a vessel for crime to occur, and it occurred because the criminals wanted to commit the crime.

That's like saying speeders are enticed by government built roads

This is apparently a controversial opinion but I don't think the government should be allowed to break the law. And no cheating by writing a law that laws don't apply to you.

So, emergency vehicles should do the speed limit and wait for red lights?

The post you're responding to says that they shouldn't break the law. Emergency vehicles are allowed, by written law, to exceed the speed limit and move through red lights. Here's one, for instance...

https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_820.300

It also says:

> And no cheating by writing a law that laws don't apply to you.

I mean, there's a difference between writing an exemption just so you can do a thing without getting in trouble, and writing an exemption that is so obviously for the benefit and health of society/community writ large. I can't think of a crappier example to have used to have tried to make the point they're making.

The FBI didn’t write the law. And it’s not for the benefit of the FBI, it’s for the purpose of getting scammers off the street. Billions of dollars have been lost of crypto scams.

The parent poster called that sort of exemption “cheating”.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41804340

Not all emergency vehicles are the government.

Wash traders are the ones breaking the law.

And where did they break the law?

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