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Comment by croes | Hacker News Reader

> Boston man was arrested for slapping stickers of Musk making a Nazi-like salute on Tesla vehicles.

What’s exactly the crime?

Obviously vandalism. He was putting stickers on random people's vehicles, damaging their paint.

That is a minor one and probably only warrants a warning or a misdemeanour. There is significantly more serious actions going on and they are becoming more frequent:

https://news.sky.com/story/tesla-charging-stations-set-on-fi...

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250303-dozen-teslas-...

In most jurisdictions, damaging, destroying, defacing or otherwise affecting other people's property is usually considered an interference in their right to enjoy their property. This is usually described as vandalism or 'criminal mischief' in court and is a class A or B misdemeanor but for Teslas, since they're expensive to repair, this could amount to a felony.

Hope that helped, and I'm happy to answer follow ons.

It's wild to me that this is a crime. To be clear, I understand that it is, but I don't want us to engage with the letter of the law, I want to engage with the spirit of "does it make sense that putting a sticker on something is a crime"

This is literally something I see 5-year-olds do (put stickers on property)

Like, I get there's risk to the paint of the vehicle, but we're talking about putting a sticker (light adhesive) on a vehicle. And describing that this could rise to a felony.

This is an example that at least 4 people think obviously rises to the level of a felony.

Spray paint, I get, yes vandalism. Stickers, baffle me. Also, what does it say about your vehicle, that removing a sticker from it takes off the paint.

What a time to be alive.

Stickers are not allowed for the same reason it is not allowed to spit on someone's car even though it is less damaging.

Yeah, I feel like you're not engaging with what I wrote. Also is spitting actually vandalism?

I understand stickers aren't allowed. I'm saying "Are we okay with living in a world where a 5-year-old could be arrested for felony "putting a sticker on someone's car"?

That's a wild line to draw, to me.

To take your spitting example, what about spraying a passing car with a hose? Vandalism? Really? Spraying with paint I understand, but surprise carwash is vandalism?

Feels like a pretty clearcut case where the law has overreached.

I suspect 5yo won’t be arrested for hit and run either. What matters is the intent and the punishment proportional to the harm. If someone is doing unacceptable acts to my property I should have a way to disincentivize the act.

you "suspect" a 5yo won't be arrested for a hit and run? Gosh, I'd love for a legal system to be based on a little bit more firm grasp than "suspicions" or else you and I don't have much of a hope of not committing crimes accidentally.

As someone who has taken a sticker off of a car, that someone else put on the car, before... it was fine. I was fine. No one was harmed in the removal of the sticker. Depending on the sticker it takes between 1 and 30 seconds to remove it.

The law is not a disincentive because people don't actually know the law. It will never be a disincentive because people do not understand the law. Which leads me back to my original question:

Why are we okay with a child risking a felony when they put a sticker on someone's car? They think it looks nice? Do we want to live in the world where this is at risk of being a felony? Note, I'm not talking about anything more destructive than a sticker.

It's clear the answer is yes, I just want you to think about what that means.

vandalism

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