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by falcolas 2466 days ago
And probably shouldn't/wouldn't be charged since he was criminally mislead in the process of doing due diligence.

And he shouldn't even be held morally wrong in this case either, if we assume that he did his due diligence and had what he viewed to be legal and consensual sex.
2 comments
onion2k 2466 days ago
And probably shouldn't/wouldn't be charged since he was criminally mislead in the process of doing due diligence.

Rape is a crime that carries strict liability (under US law); ignorance is not a valid defence.

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falcolas 2466 days ago
There’s a significant difference between willful ignorance and being mislead. The law accounts for this is most cases.
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jacquesm 2466 days ago
It would help a lot of you stopped projecting your own feelings on the subject onto Minsky.
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falcolas 2466 days ago
I'm human. I can't be unbiased. This witch hunt of Stallman for rationally exploring "what if" scenarios makes me upset.

I don't know Minsky, I don't care about Minsky. All I'm really trying to do is re-inforce how and why Stallman's exploration is reasonable and rational. And, since it's brought up repeatedly in this exploration, why even the courts consider the spirit of the law alongside the letter of the law.

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jacquesm 2466 days ago
Stallman made a huge mistake: he forgot that he too is biased. Just like Lessig's defense of Ito damaged Ito and Lessig more than if Lessig had just STFU Stallman did the same for Minsky.

And Stallman being his usual amicable self he managed to do so in a way that a reaction was inevitable. If he wanted to do right by his friend he should have pointed out the flaws in the accusation, not to try to find some contorted way to argue that assuming it was true his friend should have walked without consequences.

Lessig falls into exactly the same trap, the fact that it is your friend who does something stupid or despicable does not make it any less so and in cases like that your friends would be better friends if they pointed this out to you. Preferably at a time that it would still make a difference.

Minsky may not be guilty of anything, and Stallman has shifted the debate over whether what he assumes Minsky has done should be legal or not (it shouldn't, let's be 100% clear on that) over whether or not it happened in the first place. And that is not helping at all.

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falcolas 2466 days ago
It being smarter for him to STFU doesn't make the witch hunt any more justified.
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jacquesm 2466 days ago
Stallman has pissed off enough people and has been misogynist and creepy to too many people to get away with such stuff, he only has himself to blame. As for Minsky, if you have to rely on your creepy friends to come to your posthumous aid then it would be better if those friends kept to themselves. Minsky does not need this kind of defense. Stallman's misguided crappy little piece got tons more airtime than the statement by AN EYEWITNESS that the whole thing did not happen. As a result Minsky is now forever tainted as though this is an established fact when in fact it is anything but.
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