Found in 66 comments on Hacker News
miracle2k · 2023-08-14 · Original thread
> If the police just needs to take interest in you to find something to jail you because you are breaking hundreds of laws everyday anyway, this is a police state.

Is it still a police state if you are breaking three laws every day?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/...

all2 · 2023-04-05 · Original thread
This is an incredibly complex topic, and I apologize for speaking of it so simply in GP.

The justice system in the United States is broken in many, many places. And the issues that spawn from a broken justice system leak into every other facet of life.

I could talk about privately owned prisons that are incentivized to keep bodies in cells (that's how they get compensated). I could talk about the judges that are bribed to ensure these prisons get filled.

We could move on to things like jail-time for minor drug offenses. Is this a DA problem? Or a policing problem? I'm not sure.

Or, conversely, violent criminals who get their jail time commuted. This is a judge and DA problem.

Or, continuing, the definition of "felon" in the United States is a byzantine thing. See [0].

Our laws are too jumbled and onerous. Justice, the ideal, is not sought nor executed in many cases. I don't know how to fix this. A part of me wants to burn two centuries of case law and go back to a bare Constitution, with an emphasis on personal conduct and responsibility (those darn Puritans were on to something). But that's too simple. We're caught in a trap, and I honestly don't see a way out.

There's a quote that comes to mind "representative rule only works when the people are moral". Something like that. Are we moral?

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

arcticbull · 2022-08-27 · Original thread
The reality is that there are so many crimes in the United States that the set itself is uncountable. There have been a number of attempts to count. I guarantee you that you have, today alone, accrued enough legal liability to put you away for the rest of your life.

Part of what makes this difficult to even count in the first place are bills like the Lacey act which makes it a felony for you to violate any other countries fish and wildlife laws - if you ever came into possession of a dead lobster less than 6 inches long for any reason - felony.

What happens is the folks who end up in prison haven't accrued any more of less liability - instead they drew attention.

If you'd like to learn more I recommend Three Felonies a Day. [1]

I guess the question I have for you is why aren't you in prison now? Why did you choose to commit all those crimes, and what makes you exempt?

Further if your argument is then 'well I shouldn't be in prison because I didn't get caught' - now you're no longer arguing that these people shouldn't have 'done crimes' your argument is they should have been better at it?

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

inglor_cz · 2022-04-20 · Original thread
Richest, yes.

Healthiest, it depends. Obesity and metabolic diseases are at their record highs. That's not health. You can medicate those patients to survive, but that's not health. Go to any street and count all the people who would lose their breath after walking three flights of stairs. This is a major civilizational regression and we don't seem to be attacking it at all.

Freest, really? How do you measure this? Certainly there is more rules to comply with than ever before, you are unlikely to be aware of all of them [0].

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

nobody9999 · 2022-03-11 · Original thread
>In that case everyone should become a criminal.

While it is somewhat hyperbolic, *Three Felonies a Day"[0][1] seems relevant here.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

[1] https://www.c-span.org/video/?289272-1/three-felonies-day

1cvmask · 2021-11-20 · Original thread
Me favorite Beria quote is:

Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.

-

https://www.oxfordeagle.com/2018/05/09/show-me-the-man-and-i...

-

Unfortunately we have a similar set up here as well:

Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

smnrchrds · 2021-11-03 · Original thread
A few years ago an American lawyer wrote a book called Three Felonies a Day [0] whose premise is that "the average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day". If pressing F12 is a crime, the average software developer must be committing three felonies an hour.

[0] https://www.amazon.ca/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

smnrchrds · 2021-10-25 · Original thread
There is a book called Three Felonies A Day with the same premise. I have not personally read it so I cannot vouch for its accuracy. That being said, this is what the description for the book says:

> The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.

https://www.amazon.ca/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

None of the prior comment is hyperbole. Everything has happened, multiple times that we know of.

"Three Felonies a Day"

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

zepto · 2021-09-17 · Original thread
> You don't seem to understand how the law works. The Federal offenses are not prosecuted. The State offenses are. My statement is true.

It’s only true in a narrow technical sense. You were clearly trying to give the impression that people were simply getting away with these offenses, when what is actually happening is that the federal government doesn’t see the need to prosecute people who are already being prosecuted by the states.

> It's a sloppy way for the people in power to ignore equal application of the law by picking and choosing who deserves it, which to me undermines the very principle of rule of law.

Prosecutorial discretion definitely undermines the rule of law, and is a well known people, but it’s everywhere in every justice system and has nothing to do with the government’s approach to guns.

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

As for the Kendi definition, I was using black in this example because most gun control laws disproportionately affect black people. Substitute other races if you like.

I don’t need to refute your position with data - that’s not what’s wrong with it.

We’ve shown that your 3% claim was misleading as presented.

inglor_cz · 2021-01-11 · Original thread
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

I am biased by the fact that I grew up in late Communist Czechoslovakia, but the American self-assuredness that "they only come for the bad guys" strikes me as very short-sighted. Precisely the USA with its long history of systemic discrimination against various outgroups should be wary of this kind of complacency.

stevespang · 2021-01-04 · Original thread
America is not a democracy - - it is an AUCTION. America imprisons the most of it's citizens per capita of any country on the face of the earth. Every American Commits Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...
delecti · 2020-02-21 · Original thread
It's from a semi-popular book [1]. The author admits it's not a precise studied value; for some people it's likely much higher [2].

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent-eb... [2] http://ulrichboser.com/how-many-felonies-did-you-commit-toda...

maerF0x0 · 2020-02-15 · Original thread
The whole country has been made criminal by over policing and security theatre. https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent-eb... comes to mind.
cbanek · 2019-09-15 · Original thread
Violent crime isn't all crime, and I think the counterexample to what you're talking about is the number of non-violent laws we make:

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

We have so many laws that basically the legal system can find something wrong you've done, which makes everyone criminals. It's only a question of if they will charge you with it. You can't have a crime without a law, because a crime is when you break a law.

The war on drugs I would definitely say is crime expanding, as we are taking things that was legal, or more legal (even while dangerous or stupid) and are making them illegal. Now a substance abuse problem is also a criminal problem.

Same for three strikes, because many times you're taking a simple crime and over penalizing it. If the US's crime rate has been dropping so quickly, why do we have such a high prison population?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States#/me...

I also am not sure we're making that many new laws for violent crime. I think that is more or less well described.

And just because it's my favorite saying, "correlation is not causation!"

dmix · 2019-08-09 · Original thread
Once companies learn how to exploit them for competitive advantage or people nearly to damage other businesses out of retribution or petty differences, the way Youtube's DMCA program is regularly abused but with much bigger consequences like GDPR, people will really start questions the net-gain of such a policy.

One of the first companies fined was a small Austrian shop who got fined $4k for having a surveillance camera "too broadly" pointed at the street and not enough at their store. This type of low level administrative oversight creates significant barriers for any tech company wishing to operate in EU.

On the other hand it's a great time to be a lawyer in the tech world.

It just adds to the "Three Felonies a Day" type stuff where as long as you exist you're breaking some law - as long as someone decides to pay attention or you're in the governments crosshairs: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent-eb...

pizza234 · 2019-07-30 · Original thread
> However "we" want them to be able to "stop the bad guys" and "monitor bad communication".

This is appropriate, under the assuption of accountability; right now, three letter agencies aren't subject to it.

> "We" also have nothing to hide.

This is disingenous or naive (and it's a worringly widespread idea). Literally (as in literal-literal) anybody can be accused and charged, it's just a matter of legal power¹. Giving up privacy makes it dangerously easier.

¹=There's even a book on this subject (although the angle is not precisely this): https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

jdietrich · 2019-03-04 · Original thread
For more on this topic, see Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent by Harvey Silverglate.

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

Balgair · 2019-02-26 · Original thread
Remember, the average American commits ~3 felonies per day: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

If anything, this list indicates that the legal system in the US is in need of an overhaul. That officers would be swept up in the same net we all are, should not be unexpected. Given their daily proximity to law enforcement, having a higher number than the average population should not necessarily come as a surprise.

The way to tell if they really are more 'criminal' than the rest of the population would be to look at the felony rates of judges, para-legals, lawyers, court-recorders, bailiffs, wardens, people who live/work close to precincts, etc. If your physical proximity to an officer is related to the felony rate, then this should come fall out of the data.

In essence, based on your napkin-math, further research is very much required for the sake of public safety.

PostOnce · 2019-02-25 · Original thread
Healthcare is available, yes, and so are gold-plated Lamborghinis -- these both apply to a certain class (not the same class, mind you, but there is an economic floor here).

Minimum wage is about $1300/mo, good luck paying rent and health insurance with that and not starving. Good luck paying rent and food and power on double that income and still being able to afford even remotely decent health insurance.

As for incarceration...

When everything is a crime, everyone is a criminal. Famous lawyers are writing books about that. https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

If you don't think just about everything is a crime, then you're uninformed. You probably committed a felony when you violated a website TOS today.

I have no problem with taxation as a concept.

Everyone says "if you don't like it leave", but that's a bluff -- until 2010, it was free to renounce your citizenship, and in 2010 it became $450. Four years later, it became $2350. If more people leave, it'll go up again. We say it, but we're afraid of people actually doing it.

I won't renounce my citizenship, but I do think it's silly for us to pretend we want people to do it when we provably don't.

beagle3 · 2017-08-04 · Original thread
It's almost every country these days, see e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp... - which has a slightly clickbaity title, but worrying content.

But it seems Shkreli's transgressions are not of the "three felonies before breakfast" variety, but rather things that are indeed often prosecuted (though, it should be noted, as everyone wronged was made whole, it is likely that he would not have been prosecuted if he had not been in the media spotlight as a villain; other remarks here mentioned that the founding of Fedex had a similar fraud committed, for example).

Buge · 2017-08-03 · Original thread
Will Google?

"The law is the law" is a very simplistic way of looking at things.

Laws can be challenged in court. Google is doing that with a Canadian law right now[1].

Laws can be found unconstitutional. Laws can be overturned. Laws can be repealed.

Laws can be unenforced. For example smoking weed in Colorado. A simple "the law is the law" outlook might conclude that it's illegal to sell weed in Colorado, and any business doing so "will simply be subjected to massive damage".

Laws can be interpreted and misinterpreted by judges, lawyers, prosecutors, etc. Smart people can disagree about what a law means. Some interpretations say anyone under 13 who reads the New York Times website is a criminal under the CFAA[2].

Some people argue that the average person commits 3 felonies a day[3].

[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/07/google-sues-in-u...

[2] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/04/are-you-teenager-who-r...

[3] https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

Buge · 2017-07-21 · Original thread
Is it really much less severe than murder? The guy in arkad's link got life for stealing $153 of videotapes.

And some people make the argument that people commit on average 3 felonies a day https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

mpweiher · 2017-01-09 · Original thread
> I think it depends on whether they did anything illegal.

Less than you might think. Have you seen Three Felonies a Day[1] ? Or heard of "indict a ham sandwich"[2]?

The law being what it is today, and prosecutorial discretion being what it is, it is almost entirely up to whether someone wants to prosecute.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

[2] http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/indi...

mpweiher · 2017-01-09 · Original thread
> I think it depends on whether they did anything illegal.

Less than you might think. Have you seen Three Felonies a Day[1] ? Or heard of "indict a ham sandwich"[2]?

The law being what it is today, and prosecutorial discretion being what it is, it is almost entirely up to whether someone wants to prosecute.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

[2] http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/indi...

jerf · 2016-12-28 · Original thread
Three crimes a day is probably a reference to this book: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

(I know it's better to provide references to web pages and not books, but I don't have a web page that recreates that book on hand. Suggestions welcome.)

As I understand it, it's an estimate, not an actual figure. In order to perform such a survey, we'd have to sample people, record their entire daily activity, and determine how many crimes were committed. Determining how many crimes were committed would require an army of lawyers and private investigators... and that's the real point. As a normal citizen without an army of lawyers, you should have no confidence whatsoever that you are not committing crimes. If measured by "what could be used to convict you if the government wanted you out of the way" I'd guess 3 per day is a grotesque underestimate, at least one order of magnitude and I wouldn't bet much against 2.

tptacek · 2016-12-14 · Original thread
That we are a nation of laws obviously does not mean we're a nation of ruthless, pointless enforcement of laws, or else we'd all be in prison for Harvey Silverglate's "Orange Juice" crimes.

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

EvanAnderson · 2016-11-22 · Original thread
In the United States, at least, it's pretty likely that you're committing "crimes" unknowingly with some regularity. No fabrication is likely necessary if the authorities want to put you in a position of taking a plea bargain or gambling that you'll end up in prison. (See https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp... if this interests you.)
clarkmoody · 2016-09-14 · Original thread
> A mode of thought I would expect in socialist countries, not the US...

The United States government has done an excellent bit of propaganda to convince the bulk of the public that they are the most free people on earth. We salute the flag and sing the national anthem at games. We have the presidents' pictures on the walls of our classrooms. We chant "USA" at political rallies.

But the government of the United States has perpetrated terrible violence and destruction of liberty against its own citizens and many more abroad. Through endless military engagement abroad to harassment, detainment, and imprisonment at home, the government serves its own interests first, and enhancing and preserving your liberty is not among them.

I should be very concerned about coming to the attention of anyone within government -- at any level. Even the local code enforcement board can extract time, energy, and money from you should you come under scrutiny.

But as others have said, you're already on the lists. No need to be paranoid. Go ahead and sign the Snowden petition. It's just one more data point on your dossier. The government already has enough on you to put you away for life if you become inconvenient to the state. Three Felonies a Day[1] and all that.

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp...

sokoloff · 2016-05-05 · Original thread
Three Felonies a Day excerpt:

The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions...

http://amzn.to/24vLd3O

jseliger · 2016-03-31 · Original thread
It's the theory that if you write enough laws then everybody is a criminal

That's already true, as pointed out in Three Felonies a Day: http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/.... Everyone is already a criminal if someone wants to look carefully enough.

· 2016-03-30 · Original thread
hga · 2016-03-06 · Original thread
In the US, a CEO level employee would commit an estimated 3 Federal felonies a day (perhaps more, since I think the book is aimed a bit below that level): http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

Improvements are just not going to happen prior to the downfall of our current ruling class; a window into how this currently works is the excellent Extortion, How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544103343, or as Ayn Rand put it in Atlas Shrugged:

Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against - then you'll know that this is not the age of beautiful gestures. We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one 'makes' them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted-and you create a nation of law-breakers and then you cash in on the guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with.

bryanlarsen · 2016-02-22 · Original thread
"If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." Cardinal Richelieu

According to http://www.amazon.ca/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1..., a typical American commits three felonies a day.

abfan1127 · 2016-02-17 · Original thread
The average American commits 3 felonies a day. Just add it to the list.

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

hga · 2015-10-21 · Original thread
No joke, it's in fact a book about how the average white collar worker indeed commits an average of 3 Federal felonies a day: Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent (http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...). Forward by Alan Dershowitz, which implies it's not out to lunch.
tiatia · 2015-10-09 · Original thread
As an American living in China, I agree with you 100%. A few points:

- I would not consider Taobao a clone.

- The US has its advantages but also its disadvantages. Funding (e.g. SBIR grants) is very corrupt in the US (corrupt in the Latin sense, meaning not necessary meaning bribes but personal relationships. I could tell stories, Lordy Lord).

- "true rule of law" The true rule of law is a question of money in the states. For the average citizen the law has become more a risk than an asset.

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

hga · 2015-10-08 · Original thread
Refusing to comply with an NSA order will likely just end you up in jail on something else because the government has the power to lock you up.

That's the thesis of Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent (http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...), that:

The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague....

He'll have a lot more examples, I'm sure.

So we can't hold the companies who complied with them entirely responsible, as those companies are made up of individuals who have families to think of.

Especially since the Feds have no compunctions against going after your family if they can't pin something on you. E.g. junk bond figure Michael Millikan, who's real crime was creating a market for poorly managed companies.

chx · 2015-03-19 · Original thread
Read http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/... even if it's exaggerating, even if it's twisting the truth as some claim there are some frightening amount of felonies you can commit and because of that you can't ever presume you are innocent. But even if you are, as the wonderful video linked by lgierth shows you can be in trouble. Just don't talk to the police.
supdog · 2015-03-12 · Original thread
Normal people commit felonies doing normal things every day.

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

ghufran_syed · 2015-03-01 · Original thread
I think you're asking the right question, just the wrong way. Your question comes across (to me, and possibly others) as "prove to me that not paying myself a salary is illegal?", when I think your real question is "Does it make sense to do this, given the other competing demands on a founder's time?" My personal take is that if you're successful (let's use getting to your first actual cash compensation non-founder hire as a proxy for this), you can fix it at that time, if you don't make it that far, it's just as well you didn't waste time on it.

Besides, you probably commit "3 felonies per day", what's one more? :-) http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527487044715045744389... http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent-ebo...

The following section of Paul Graham's essay "Why startups condense in America", at http://paulgraham.com/america.html is relevant:

"7. America Is Not Too Fussy.

If there are any laws regulating businesses, you can assume larval startups will break most of them, because they don't know what the laws are and don't have time to find out.

For example, many startups in America begin in places where it's not really legal to run a business. Hewlett-Packard, Apple, and Google were all run out of garages. Many more startups, including ours, were initially run out of apartments. If the laws against such things were actually enforced, most startups wouldn't happen.

That could be a problem in fussier countries. If Hewlett and Packard tried running an electronics company out of their garage in Switzerland, the old lady next door would report them to the municipal authorities.

But the worst problem in other countries is probably the effort required just to start a company. A friend of mine started a company in Germany in the early 90s, and was shocked to discover, among many other regulations, that you needed $20,000 in capital to incorporate. That's one reason I'm not typing this on an Apfel laptop. Jobs and Wozniak couldn't have come up with that kind of money in a company financed by selling a VW bus and an HP calculator. We couldn't have started Viaweb either.

Here's a tip for governments that want to encourage startups: read the stories of existing startups, and then try to simulate what would have happened in your country. When you hit something that would have killed Apple, prune it off.

Startups are marginal. They're started by the poor and the timid; they begin in marginal space and spare time; they're started by people who are supposed to be doing something else; and though businesses, their founders often know nothing about business. Young startups are fragile. A society that trims its margins sharply will kill them all."

ims · 2015-01-29 · Original thread
If you want to know more, check out "Three Felonies a Day" by Harvey Silvergate[1]. (I don't necessarily agree with his take on everything, but it's still eye opening and worth a read.)

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

The Pre-Crime Database - or rather the Don't Make Us Use Something We Have Against You Database.

Related: http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

hga · 2014-08-29 · Original thread
Well, you could be at the other end of the communications, their 4 word description is "Connecting Inmates to Society".

In a "Three Felonies a Day" (http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...) society the odds of your ending up in one or the other position are probably greater than you think, certainly greater than you hope.

jblow · 2013-12-08 · Original thread
I would be careful with putting so much emphasis on legality. The fact is that there are so many laws, and some of them are so weird and convoluted, and nobody really understands them all; pretty much everyone does several illegal things every day without even realizing it:

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

Under these kinds of conditions, if someone in an appropriate branch of government wants to nail you for any reason, they can. Especially now that widespread spying makes it much easier to identify specific transgressions.

So I am not so sure why you would take such a hard line on legality when in fact such a stance is just waiting to come back and bite you (and everyone).

... In fact, now it is the government's position that there are SECRET LAWS that you can be violating but not even know why you are violating them; they can arrest you and not tell you exactly why they arrested you, because the reason is secret. How are you supposed to engage in strictly legal behavior when you don't even know what is legal and what is illegal?

smsm42 · 2013-10-13 · Original thread
In government's eye, at least in the US, you most probably already are a criminal:

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/... http://threefelonies.com/Youtoo/tabid/86/Default.aspx

gnosis · 2013-08-05 · Original thread
"The parallel construction wouldn't work if the suspects were not actually committing crimes."

See "Three Felonies a Day"[1]

Also, note the following quote from the original article:

"most drug-trafficking defendants plead guilty before trial"

In fact, something like 90% or more of people accused of crimes in the US never get a trial, because they plead guilty. They plead guilty because prosecutors pile on so many charges that the defendants are afraid to risk life in jail if they happen to lose (in a judicial system that's usually stacked against them). Defending a case in Federal court is also incredibly expensive and traumatic. See the Aaron Swartz case for good examples of all of the above.

[1] - http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

generj · 2013-07-31 · Original thread
Just from a Natural Language perspective, this is amazing. By using the code as as a corpus, we can see how differently legal language differs from day-to-day parlance. Such an analysis might be fascinating, especially if we compare to word frequency in Google Ngram's historical index. I suspect legal language trails several decades behind modern lingo.

Semi-intelligent queries can be executed, such that ignorance of the law might be abated. Imagine saying "Siri, is it illegal to do X?" and Siri answering you. This is important, because of the "Three Felonies a Day" syndrome with unwitting violations of the law. http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

Alex3917 · 2013-06-10 · Original thread
"It's not just that most Americans don't believe they have anything to hide from NSA. It's that they don't have anything to hide from NSA."

I'm not so sure about that. Roughly 90% of Americans use illegal drugs at some point in their lives[1], and supposedly the average American commits 3 felonies per day.[2]

[1] http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/monographs/vol2_2009...

[2] http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

Relevant: Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent

"The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. "

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

shrike · 2013-02-20 · Original thread
I'd recommend Three Felonies A Day by Harvey Silverglate. It's a good review of exactly this issue.

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Innocent-ebook/dp/B...

It would be nice if BoingBoing actually linked to this book:

"Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent" The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague.

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

wissler · 2013-01-15 · Original thread
Doing her job? Please see the movie "Judgement at Nuremberg" regarding "I was just doing my job". Seriously, see this movie.

And, "no less"? On the contrary, all prosecutors do substantially less. They don't actually apply the law most of the time, if they did, we'd probably all be in prison. See this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

carbocation · 2013-01-12 · Original thread
Quite frequently, you will be blocked from using your assets to defend from such suits (your assets will be frozen), so good luck attempting to spend your $1.5 million anyway.

The book Three Felonies a Day talks about this (the main focus is how the government's tactics for working its way up the food chain to the apex criminal, which is not related to Aaron's story, but the author's exposition of costs and property restrictions are relevant). http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

jmaygarden · 2013-01-03 · Original thread
I highly recommend referenced book by the author of the article, Harvey Silverglate, called "Three Felonies a Day" [1]. It's a great read and details many similar cases.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

carbocation · 2013-01-03 · Original thread
> He says the New York district attorney’s office tried to strong-arm him into a plea agreement that would have had him hacking into the systems of his software clients in order to obtain the usernames and passwords of gamblers and their bookmakers to help authorities gather evidence of illegal gambling.

If the premise of Harvey Silverglate's book, "Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent,"[0] is correct, then this is quite plausible. A key message from Silverglate's book is that because it is impossible to know if one's behavior is lawful[1], it is impossible to be sure that one operates within the contours of the law at all times. Thus, if you would be convenient to nail not because of anything in particular that you've done but because you can probably be convinced to testify against someone higher up in their chain, beware.

From my recollection of this book, this was a tactic more typically used at the federal level, so either the tactic is spreading or my recollection of its state-level use is just dim.

EDIT: In response to all of the other comments pointing out other absurd choices the authorities could make (they could prosecute Pepsi since they sell soda to these operations, etc), Silverglate's book provides a nice framework for why this programmer would be targeted and not Pepsi. He's not the fodder, but he does have meaningful access to the fodder (whereas Pepsi surely does not).

[0] = http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

[1] = In contrast, it's often quite possible to know when one's behavior is unlawful.

Spooky23 · 2012-11-12 · Original thread
From a legal framework point of view, the US is there already. It probably isn't as blatantly abused. Make no mistake, if you attract the ire of an aggressive prosecutor, you can and will be charged with some sort of serious crime.

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

Another angle in the US is are situations where you cannot be charged with a crime, but your property can. For example, if you are travelling on an airplane with a "large" quantity of cash, the authorities can (and have) essentially "arrest" your cash via asset forfeiture. You have rights, but your property does not.

hga · 2011-09-17 · Original thread
Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent by Harvey Silverglate: http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

"The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch..."

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