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Comment by spdif899 | Hacker News Reader

I get the sentiment but under the current system of government it does seem quite unlikely such a law would be passed. IMO if we think something should be legal (i.e. if you think presidents' taxes should be public information) then it's ok to support vigilantism that acts towards that end, as a reasonable alternative to years or decades of lobbying.

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Who then gets to decide what should be released? The random employee who gets hired by the IRS and granted access to the system gets to make those decisions?

Suppose some random person decided that all software engineer (or whatever your job is) information should be public so they release your tax returns. How do you protect yourself? Do you just have to shrug and say, "well $RANDOM_PERSON thinks this is right, so I guess it is"

The court of popular opinion gets to decide.

If it's being done by individual vigilante employees, despite being already against the law, how does the court of popular opinion control it?

It’s illegal so that individual employee will be brought before the courts. If the employee was justified, the jury will nullify their conviction.

When is the last time you saw a jury nullification? I agree, juries should be able to overturn convictions if they think the law is unjust, but that simply doesn't happen. The entire legal system is very careful about choosing and guiding jurors to judge based on the law, not to judge the law itself.

Intimidating people with acts of violence for political objectives actually falls outside of the definition of vigilantism. Vigilantism refers to taking what's perceived to be current law into your own hands.

> IMO if we think something should be legal

We don’t know that until we actually pass a law. In fact, if the law states that something is unlawful, illegal or criminal, that is the prior agreement we are already under per the law.

> then it's ok to support vigilantism that acts towards that end

It costs you nothing to “support” it, unless you’re the criminal.

How’s it vigilantism? I don’t see the crime.

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