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Comment by unixgoddess | Hacker News Reader

even with already published laws you need a lawyer to understand how a judge will be more likely to interpret them; even then, it's just an informed guess, you never know what the end ruling will be until it comes.

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So... Why not have a judge whose job is to come in and rule on potential new laws? You're pointing at this like it's some knockdown argument when it just shows lawmakers are lazy.

Imagine all of your bugs were security bugs, hacking (and profiting from the results) was legal and incredibly lucrative, and (as a result) almost the entire available pool of testers was at best grey-hats each with their own political agenda. Even if you also had Designated Testers with lifetime appointments, would you expect them to do better in a year than a well-paid hacker could in a couple of weeks? Especially if the former category, though well-paid, is considerably understaffed and thus overworked, due in part to how hard it is to establish competence and good faith of a candidate?

I’m not sure this is a good metaphor, but I think the main thrust should be true: the whole thing is adversarial like you’ve never seen, and that’s not at all the best way to establish truth, just the best you can do without trust assumptions. (Law : science and engineering :: democracy : benevolent dictatorship.)

HN is not apparently aware of how laws are made in most countries. In fact, staff legislative attorneys and others greatly experienced in law often help write them and edit them.

For example, in the US, you have y things like https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_Legislative_Co... which helps the house draft bills.

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