[hypeatei]

> But we should be a lot more serious about taking more than zero steps

No, we shouldn't. There is no inherent need for government regulations in every part of our lives, let alone a computer. Sorry to be flippant, but this idea that everyone needs to have a "serious conversation" about something is laughable and inevitably leads to mountains of government legislation with unintended consequences.

Thanks, but no thanks. We should resist all of this bullshit and try not to become Europe 2.0 where it's illegal to offend people with your speech because some idiot thought that'd be "reasonable" regulation.

[Apocryphon]

In America, we simply have private individuals sue each other in civil court for that rather than state prosecution in criminal court. Close enough.

[hypeatei]

You still need legal standing for a civil case and the defendant isn't being threatened with jail time or men with guns. Yes, frivolous cases are a thing but it's both unlikely (because money) and not in the same league as criminal prosecution.

[mothballed]

Stuff like the clean air act says that you don't. That's why "physicians for a healthy environment" were able to sue the diesel brothers for emissions delete hardware despite the fact they weren't able to point to standing for $760,000 in damages to themselves, unless by some insane legal stretch you want to argue literally everything anyone does has a tiny effect on you thus you have standing because a few molecules of whatever that actor did floated to where you are. In the end they even managed to put a "diesel brother" in jail despite the fact that a judge who examined his circumstances of being jailed for 'civil contempt' were bogus.

[iamnothere]

The consequences of the Wickard v. Filburn mistake will continue to haunt us until that decision is finally overturned. (Slightly different area of the law but similar principle.)

[Apocryphon]

Even if the federal government won't sue, state and other jurisdictions could. The Diesel Brothers also ran afoul of Utah’s State Implementation Plan of the CAA. This whole story is about state law.

[iamnothere]

This is a good point, but even so, state governments also can’t override freedom of speech. Especially with small FOSS hobby projects, it’s hard to make an argument for regulation on commercial grounds.