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Comment by alexkearns | Hacker News Reader

I find your response quite amusing, particularly as your second most recent submission was: 'Don't get sued for libel in the UK ...' That was also nothing to do with technology, from what I could see.

And, this was not link bait. This poor lady was actually put in prison, for contacting her son to say she loved him, in breach of a court order banning her from contacting him. She is now threatened with imprisonment again, because she posted a video on the internet outlining her plight.

So my question remains, what on earth is happening to Britain to allow injustices like this to happen?

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> That was also nothing to do with technology, from what I could see.

No, that was to do with science. It's a case in which a scientist is claiming that an organisation is making claims with no scientific basis, and that organisation is responding not by presenting evidence, but by bringing a libel action. Science and rationality, I think, is of interest to hackers.

And did you read the account of why the court orders were made? They seem perfectly reasonable to me.

Still, one person's "link-bait" is another person's burning issue of social justice. I responded, and contribute, in a way I think adds value to this site given its aims and audience.

Okay, maybe that one was about science. But what about your following posts:

"Ask HN: where are your favorite places?"

And even better: "The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord"

It's okay for you to post these kind of issues but you don't have the graciousness to let me post about what I consider a serious injustice without you in turn posting a snide comment.

It's so blatantly hypocritical that it's hilarious.

These aren't "issues", they are items I specifically think hackers and technology people will find interesting. Perhaps they will, and I'll get up-modded, perhaps they won't, and they'll get flagged.

However, to address the ones you single out, in the first I was asking about favorite places of interest to technology buffs, hence mentioning the Falkirk Wheel, which is a fantastic demonstration of energy efficiency and Archimedes principle.

With regards the Evil Overlords, I and all the programmers I employ found it funny and we quote it often, so I thought it would be of interest to hackers. Feel free to flag it if you think otherwise.

And it's not my call to "let you" do anything. I think it's link bait, and not specifically of interest to hackers or technologists. There are many fine articles on the web about serious social issues, and they aren't necessarily of interest specifically to hackers. If others think otherwise, <fx:shrugs> fine.

Perhaps we should just agree to disagree, and leave it at that.

That's fair enough. Just as you thought your non-hacker stories might be of interest to programmers, so I thought my non-tech story might be of interest to hackers also. Programmers are after all v interested in issues of liberty - your interesting article on UK libel laws being a case is point.

The difference is that I did not go around accusing you of link-bait. But, yes, let's just leave it that.

This sort of thing happens every day when people break restraining orders or don't comply with visitation rights. Not sure why it is considered news, much less hacker news.

Did you miss the part where it says that she was turning the children against her father and making them enter into a difficult contradictory allergens of loyalties which is causing these children harm. I would doubt if the judge made the decision based on some law stating you can't say I love you to your children. I am sure it was a sane decision based on the facts of the case and you know sometimes it is right and just that the mother is prevented from saying I love you to her child.

All judges make sane decisions all the time? Miscarriages of justices never happen?

Jailing someone who breaches a court order is not injustice. If the court order was wrong, fight that.

I'd argue that jailing someone for breaching a court order that was morally wrong was an injustice, but maybe that's me. Certainly, if I ever was banned from seeing my kids, i would be severely tempted to break the court order.

You say that she should just fight the court order. However, the order was made by the Family Court system, not the civil court system. Family Courts operate in secrecy and it virtually impossible to appeal their decisions. Moreover, defendants are liable for contempt of court if they talk to journalists about their case, or attempt to publicise what went on in court.

Indeed, the poor lady in this case is currently being threatened with prison for publishing a video on the web highlighting her plight. If she ends up in prison for this, she won't be alone - more than 200 people were locked up in 2005 for contempt of the UK's family courts. See http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/camilla_... for further information.

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