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Comment by tomp | Hacker News Reader

I didn't think I would need to explain this...

The problem with that is that it's a very slippery slope. Everything you do, someone will complain, and be hurt. You're pro choice? You hurt Christians. You're pro life? You hurt women. You're pro immigration? You hurt domestic workers. You're against immigration? You're hurting foreigners living in oppressive countries. Most any binary choice will have some people pro and others against, and unfortunately everybody can pretend they're emotionally hurt, which effectively means you'll be jailing people whose opponents are the loudest.

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It is not particularly slippery.

In theory, I could also have you arrested because your sleeve accidentally brushed mine in a crowded elevator. "Assault!", I cry, while I flop to the ground like a soccer player. But that's not a big problem because it turns out that legislators and prosecutors and judges and juries are not total idiots. The flopping thing has been attempted, seen as a problem, and generally dealt with.

It's also not even a slope. Blasphemy has been a crime in plenty of places, but we're moving away from that. Ditto crimes like insulting the king or harming the state. We move away from it because we get better at discerning actual harm from societally valuable dissenting speech.

I'd like to point out that you're trying to execute a rhetorical slight of hand that diverts attention away from the issue.

Harassment is real. This isn't about hurt feelings. This is about concerted attempts to ruin ppl's lives. Kathy Sierra's case for example included lies being spread about how she was an actual prostitute (not as an insult).

Should trolls be allowed to spread lies about other people?

Sure, Sierra legally probably was entitled to sue these trolls, but now it's on Kathy to expend her time, effort & resources trying to identify the trolls to sue them. Even if it's legal, harassment can also be used as a DoS against the victim, which is frankly, still bullshit.

Who's expense should it be then, in your opinion, to pursue (civil or criminal) legal action against the "troll"? AFAIK, if she wins, she can also demand payment of legal fees, so it's really just her time that's at stake.

1) you haven't answered the question. Is it okay for people to go around spreading lies about you?

2) As Cory Doctorow put it "Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time rich and cash poor." demanding payment of legal fees from someone who has no money doesn't get you very far.

3) The question is whether there is a societal problem here that we should care about at the level of governance. I'd argue yes, but what the remedy should be is way more complicated a topic, and something that i think is probably only worth discussing in good faith. So if you don't think this is a problem, that should be addressed first.

I'd be interested to know how you would cope with the persistant vicious attacks from people like Weev, lasting many years.

And what you'd actually do in that situation, now what you'd think you'd do.

"Pretend to be emotionally hurt"

If we were just talking about mere offense and hurt feelings (which are still serious), I wouldn't be talking about jail time.

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