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Comment by funkiee | Hacker News Reader

Charleston resident here, our politics are so backwards in this regard. We're also considering making new bars close at midnight to make downtown 'more attractive to tech companies'.

At least local lawyers have stated that they're willing to take the case of any uber driver caught by this for free.

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Don't forget the "War on Touror" wherein undercover police officers hand out $1000 fines to college kids after they've asked them to give an impromptu history tour of the peninsula.

Any sources for that, it's hard to find anything googling that, and it sounds like a pretty open and shut case of entrapment on the surface.

Source[0]

I'm not a lawyer, but the police can ask you to perform a crime and bust you for it if "you were inclined to commit the crime anyway" or something like that. The rule of thumb is like if a tourist walked up and asked for a tour, would the suspect do it then? If so a cop can nab you for it.

The sting revolves around Charleston licensing tour guides who must pass a pretty hard test and the rickshaw/bike-taxi operator not having taken/passed that test. Of course there was a recent case in Washington D.C. where the same law regarding tour guides was recently struck down[1], so who knows if he could have fought it. Last I heard the guy who got busted was paying his fine in installments.

[0] - http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140122/PC16/14012982... [1] - http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-freespeech-t...

Serious question about the bar time thing: Is that a poorly disguised blue law where they're doing the "big lie" PR technique, or are they actually serious because bar close time is currently 9pm on school nights or some similar paternalism?

It's currently 2 a.m. for all bars. The proposed change is all new bars must close at midnight, unless that bar is located in a hotel with at least 20 rooms.

The actual area that would be restricted by this is mostly shops, restaurants, and tourist areas. It's largely seen as a push by the blue bloods to force their will on the rest of us.

> "our politics are so backwards in this regard"

Explain how so ? How checking safety on public transportation, insurance requirements, fines is backward ? I have seen other comments on windows requirement, tourer fines but I think city government is fully justified while imposing fines on Uber drivers.

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