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Comment by tcmb | Hacker News Reader

Maybe a better analogy is an energy provider: You don't expect them to turn off somebody's power because they are listening to the wrong kind of music.

Energy companies are publicly traded companies as well, I don't see what difference this fact makes in the analogy and the argument.

Policing is the police's job, not that of infrastructure and utility companies, precicely because that would bring a lot of hairy questions that the author raises as well.

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> You don't expect them to turn off somebody's power because they are listening to the wrong kind of music.

But you would expect them to turn off somebody's power if they were, e.g., using that power for a marijuana farm or torturing kittens with electrical shocks and standing outside their house shouting "I'M USING THIS ELECTRICITY FOR CRIMINAL MEANS, YOU KNOW".

I would expect the police to step in if the power was used for a marijuana farm (assuming it's illegal in your jurisdiction of course, skipping the discussion whether it should be illegal).

A corporation deciding to cut off my power without due process because they think there may be a marijuana farm – which may or may not be true – does not sound like something that's desirable.

Either way, I don't think analogies like this are very helpful, because the situations are too different, and the analogy doesn't really help clarify anything IMO.

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