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Comment by run4yourlives | Hacker News Reader

Irrelevant really. Selective targeting didn't coerce him into breaking a law (if he did).

That's a dangerous point of view. They carefully calibrate the laws so that most people are breaking some of them at least sometimes.

> They carefully calibrate the laws so that most people are breaking some of them at least sometimes.

Explain this please. My grand conspiracy detectors are malfunctioning today.

You have to be kidding me. The TSA has a whole set of secret laws that you can be arrested for violating, and no one even knows what they are.

Really? I'm pretty sure most of their violations are listed on their website. http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/index.shtm

Google: TSA secret laws

I think the secret law was that airlines couldn't tell you you were on the watch-list. Now they can, but can be fined for telling you that you're on the watch-list without you being on the watch-list.

Yes, this is a stupid law. I hope Obama shit-cans the TSA.

Here's one related example. Jay-walking is done by basically everyone, but there have been studies showing that enforcement, at least in the south, has almost exclusively targeted blacks.

Are you suggesting that jaywalking laws exist to target blacks exclusively? Given that pretty much every jurisdiction on North America has these laws on the books, that's a stretch.

Remember, I'm responding to the allegation that laws are specifically designed so that everyone breaks them, not that there is selective targeting.

First, I don't agree that laws are "calibrated" (by design) such that most people are likely to break them.

However...

"I'm responding to the allegation that laws are specifically designed so that everyone breaks them, not that there is selective targeting."

Consider that the selective targeting aspect is far more important than whether the laws were designed so that they facilitate selective targeting, or just happen to facilitate selective targeting. Either way, selective targeting is something that should be avoided.

It doesn't really matter whether the situation is by design or simply an unintended consequence. That highway speed limits are often set below the speed at which the vast majority of drivers travel means in practice that police can stop whoever they want for any reason whatsoever. It doesn't have to be a conspiracy for it to be tyranny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limit#85th_percentile_rul...

Most speed laws are based on some semblance of science. Granted there is often that extra percentage, but it doesn't kill anyone to slow down a little.

From the Wikipedia page:

"a review of available speed studies demonstrates that the posted speed limit is almost always set well below the 85th-percentile speed by as much as 8 to 12 mph"

The length of the yellow at Traffic lights are at times calibrated to maximize fines rather then minimize deaths.

Some of this bullshit does cost lives.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=288021

Could you tilt your hat a little to the left? All that tinfoil is blocking my view of reality...

That's not a careful calibration, it's an unplanned equilibrium. Laws that most people don't violate will be elaborated and made stricter until the pushback creates equilibrium.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com