Kansas Police shutdown cannabis oil activist’s Facebook | Hacker News Reader

Kansas Police shutdown cannabis oil activist’s Facebook

kansasexposed.org

103 pointsromefort42 comments

Wait, how, exactly, does a local police department have someone's Facebook page taken down? Is there any source anyone can find that verifies that's what happened?

Radley Balko did some reporting on this story, after Ben Swann broke it, and neither of those two reporters said anything about Facebook.

Other reporting I've found actually points to Facebook advocacy pages for for Banda, who currently does have Facebook pages.

I don't like Facebook but I am finding it hard to believe that they would take down someone's page based on a police request. You would think that a Judge's order would at least be required.

I have a little problem believing that Garden City PD was actually able to make contact with someone at fb who could do that, but I'd at least hope that fb has a system in place for law enforcement to make contact with a fb staffer who could expedite proper law enforcement requests. I don't have any problem believing that fb would take a page offline after some sort of "administrative subpoena" or other similar sketchiness. I also don't have a problem believing that a judge could be found in a small Midwestern town who would sign off on something like that. But I don't see anything to indicate that's what has happened. If I had to guess, I'd guess that Banda consulted an atty who promptly told her to 'shut down all the things' lest she make her legal defense much more difficult and expensive.

At least in Germany, Facebook doesn't even comply with court orders.

The Facebook Germany office just tells courts to talk to the Irish office, in the knowledge that international judicial assistance is a big obstacle for smaller cases and likely won't happen.

I suspect the person who wrote the article does not know the difference between Facebook and the Internet. Or is one of those that simply calls the Internet "Facebook". Yes, they exist, all over in fact...

Or they could be a clever publicist attempting (successfully) to get exposure for Banda's issue.

Her Facebook page is working now. Earlier when I clicked on it, it would just go back to my newsfeed. (She was on my friends list prior to this story. She already had 5,000 friends.) Perhaps some bug or automated restriction, maybe from a bunch of people reporting her profile.

Her page is facebook.com/shona.banda

> The Garden City Police Department had cannabis oil activist Shona Banda’s Facebook account shutdown because she was using her social media network to raise money for her legal defense

On what grounds is it illegal to raise funds ?

Probably on the grounds that it's hard to push around a defendant who has a lot of money for lawyers.

It would be interesting to see Facebooks take on this... any FBers on HN?

Probably the same grounds that prosecutors and police use to seize all liquid assets of a defendant before they are even tried, so they can't afford to pay for a defense lawyer.

It's not.

Nevermind the Facebook page, they took her son into custody and questioned him without parental consent or legal representation? I truly hope this ends badly for the 'authorities' responsible, as it sounds to me like kidnapping.

Kansas is what happens economically and socially when Republicans are completely in charge. No balance. They are throwing the book at this woman, and punishing her via her kid. That was their first and second course of action. And this particular batch of social conservatives get vindictive when they're made to look bad, so I'd expect her mistreatment to get worse before it gets better.

> her next custody hearing is set to take place on April 20.

How… appropriate

I wish it were 100% legal like beer already. So many people use it, and it harms just as much as alcohol. Stop putting normal people in prison with murderers and rapists.

I've never done drugs before in my life but I know a ton of professional that do. These are lawyers, doctors, accountants and the occasional taxidermist. Do these people belong in jail? Fuck that.

>I've never done drugs before

I can only assume you mean cannabis is a drug, when, in fact, it is a plant. Keeping with the idea that cannabis is a drug, am I correct to assume you have never had a Pepsi or a cup of coffee?

If you're going to be pedantic at least do it well. Going by the dictionary definition of drug: "a medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body" both caffeine and cannabis fit the bill.

Cannabis is a plant that contains cannabinoids that are drugs. As a chemist, I typically don't refer to unrefined plant material as a drug. Because people don't typically consume caffeine raw, most people don't consider coffee consumption "doing drugs"; so, I believe cannabis deserves the same consideration.

Language matters, and I don't consider it to be pedantic to make this point (however subtle the distinction is).

Edit: And, for reference (since you missed the definition of cannabis): Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three different species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica and Cannabis ruderalis.

> and it harms just as much as alcohol

While I agree that marijuana should be legalized, note that there is some consensus that alcohol causes more harm (societally and to the user) than marijuana [1]. While the societal damage would change if it were legalized, marijuana is still less harmful to users than alcohol.

[1] http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2010/11/drugs_caus...

Even better, let's legalize it already. Too many people are suffering from this old law.

This is the best thing that could have happened

Yep. Let's Streisand her GoFundMe: http://www.gofundme.com/rw8p88r

$20,500 of $15k Raised by 820 people in 4 days

That was fast.

Edit: now up to $20,735, an hour later. She's certainly getting lots of support.

> On March 24, cannabis oil activist Shona Banda‘s life was flipped upside-down

And I'd like to take a minute Just sit right there I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air

This made me laugh

It made me laugh too. I don't know why you are been down voted.

I guess there is no room for humor.

There is a culture of down voting for no-value-add. I think people use it as an opportunity to shape the community which may be fair enough.

There is indeed a Bel Aire, KS. Continue.

http://www.belaireks.org/

> The Garden City Police Department had cannabis oil activist Shona Banda’s Facebook account shutdown

Citation needed

Her profile appears in my friends' list but when you click on it, it goes nowhere and opens back up my feed.

Great, but where does that prove the police were involved? The source article mentioned no evidence for that, and it doesn't strike me as the most reputable source in any event.

Are you suggesting the page was shut down on purpose to prompt internet mob support already? If so, seems it worked.

She doesn't seem to have taken it down. Facebook doesn't generally take down random peoples accounts.

The simplest explanation is that it was taken down against her will. Likely by someone with pseudo-legal authority to do that.

i.e. "legal" authority, even if the application of that authority doesn't actually follow the law.

I simply think that when presented a dubious claim with no evidence from a shady source we should be skeptical.

How do you know which profile is hers? I noticed a bunch of Shona Banda related fb pages, but none that I can confirm are affiliated. I am wary of opportunist scammers who would pose as her and try to shunt donations to accounts they control.

I was friends with her prior to this.

Her profile is working now. Not deleted but something was broken with it earlier.

Lets hug of death her GoFundMe. They are attempting to destroy her ability to attain funding for a defense. Thats what the motive here is.

http://www.gofundme.com/rw8p88r

This article only mentions Facebook in one sentence. No supporting facts or links...?

Is there another source that is neutral?

The Washington Post, at least, independently confirmed the account of the school's actions on the day of the program. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/04/17/s...

> her next custody hearing is set to take place on April 20.

Oh, the irony.

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