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Comment by ampdepolymerase | Hacker News Reader

Castle doctrines and make your day laws have to be updated to allow automated defences and booby traps. Right now the classical legal question of securing your mail box against vandalism and theft leaves you vulnerable to civil lawsuit and criminal prosecution. I can see this product finding customers in the Prairies and certain parts of the Midwest. New York and California? A one way trip to jail and bankruptcy.

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Colorado's "Make my day" law seem a little out-of-place in this discussion, as it only concerns deadly force and is only applicable to intruders into your house (ie once the intruder has crossed the threshold of your door or a window). "Porch pirates" and package thieves are a big enough concern now that they probably warrant their own laws, but I don't think we should be authorizing deadly force against them.

This is, in practical terms, a bigger version of a one-way mail slot. I fail to see how it would be a 'defense' or 'trap', and indeed a major part of the point of authenticating drones would be to avoid the problems that could come with accidentally trapping small animals with a much simpler one-way spring mechanism.

You'd want "one way" drone delivery mailboxes just like a regular mailbox is one way and must be opened with a key.

The package should be dropped on a trapdoor with a locked compartment underneath. It's still vulnerable to theft and vandalism, but it's no different from anything dropped by the mailman.

How serious is this comment?

Did we read the same article?

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