Tag: Law
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Amos Yee and the Freedom to Offend
Yesterday 18-year-old Singaporean Amos Yee was granted asylum in the United States, throwing a spotlight on freedom of speech in Singapore. Judge Samuel Cole called him a “young political dissident”, and the ruling claimed that Yee has a “suffered past persecution” and has a “well-founded fear of future persecution”. Yee has been jailed twice, once…
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The Ethics of Piracy in the Digital Age
Ebooks, digital downloads, torrents and the Internet have fundamentally altered the nature of commercial transactions, but definitions of ‘piracy’ remains stuck in the 17th century, in the heyday of pirates at sea. Maritime piracy is clearly evil. Maritime merchant shipping transfers goods from a supplier to a buyer. The supplier expects payment and the buyer…
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More Laws, More Crime
In 1920, the United States passed the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing the production, sale and transportation of alcohol. The next thirteen years saw an upshot in banditry, the rise of organised crime on the backs of alcohol smuggling, gang violence, police corruption and an international alcohol smuggling racket that raked in millions of dollars…
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Banning Julien Blanc: NIMBYism on a global scale
Banning Julien Blanc undermines freedom of speech and travel. The better approach would be to arrest him, criticise him, or kill him. The latter removes a threat to society; the former pushes the burden to someone else and punishes someone for disagreeing with the memes of the day.
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Justice for All
The goal of the legal system is justice, not vengeance. Vengeance attempts to satisfy emotions. Justice aims to protect society.
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Responsibility AWAREness
People are responsible for their actions. Saying that someone is not responsible for a crime in which she precipitated through her high risk behaviour is absurd.