Three Felonies a Day

[DougP]

One thread in particular reminded me of a book that was recommended to me. So I went ahead and ordered it.

The book is Three Felonies a Day by Boston civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate.

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 (Encounter Books), 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 seemingly innocuous behavior. 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.

There was an article on the WSJ.com about it a month or so ago.

When we think about the pace of change in technology, it's usually to marvel at how computing power has become cheaper and faster or how many new digital ways we have to communicate. Unfortunately, this pace of change is increasingly clashing with some of the slower-moving parts of our culture.

Technology moves so quickly we can barely keep up, and our legal system moves so slowly it can't keep up with itself. By design, the law is built up over time by court decisions, statutes and regulations. Sometimes even criminal laws are left vague, to be defined case by case. Technology exacerbates the problem of laws so open and vague that they are hard to abide by, to the point that we have all become potential criminals.

Boston civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate calls his new book "Three Felonies a Day," referring to the number of crimes he estimates the average American now unwittingly commits because of vague laws. New technology adds its own complexity, making innocent activity potentially criminal.

Looks interesting, I'll find out when it arrives.

[TheLastDon]

I don't know how vague you can get but I'm pretty sure i haven't committed any felonies in at least a few weeks.

I would like to read it.

[SnaFu]

It wouldn't surprise me. When's the movie coming out?

[DougP]

Originally Posted by TheLastDon

I don't know how vague you can get but I'm pretty sure i haven't committed any felonies in at least a few weeks.

I would like to read it.

Felonies cover a lot of ground and there's also those four classes of felonies (1st, 2nd etc). They are nothing more than illegal acts that are considered to be greater than a misdemeanor in common law. Heck, drunkenness, curfew violations, loitering, disorderly conduct (very vague) are considered some of the more common felonies committed in the US.

One example mentioned in the WSJ article was

A Saudi student in Idaho was charged in 2003 with offering "material support" to terrorists. He had operated Web sites for a Muslim charity that focused on normal religious training, but was prosecuted on the theory that if a user followed enough links off his site, he would find violent, anti-American comments on other sites. The Internet is a series of links, so if there's liability for anything in an online chain, it would be hard to avoid prosecution.

also mentioned

An "anti-cyberbullying" proposal is making its way through Congress, prompted by the tragic case of a 13-year-old girl driven to suicide by the mother of a neighbor posing as a teenage boy and posting abusive messages on MySpace. The law would prohibit using the Internet to "coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person." Imagine a law that tried to apply this control of speech to letters, editorials or lobbying.

Who knows, it will be interesting to find out just how "criminal" I am on a daily basis. Maybe I can score some cool-bad-boy-points with teh radies.

Edit to add: That anti-cyberbullying law could land us in some hot water if RB ever reported us to the authorities. ROR

[Crazysix]

Im looking forward to the cliff notes

[SnaFu]

Yesterday I stayed home all day and didn't do shit. Not even a download. Tonight I went for a walk with the old lady and we ended up getting shitfaced in a bar.

Hopefully I made up for yesterdays deficit tonight.