undefined | Better HN

0 pointsmlyle13d ago0 comments

> Cost of enforcement matters. The exact same nominal law that is very costly to enforce has completely different costs and benefits then that same law becoming all but free to rigidly enforce.

Hey, I really like this framing. This is a topic that I've thought about from a different perspective.

We have all kinds of 18th and 19th century legal precedents about search, subpoenas, plain sight, surveillance in public spaces, etc... that really took for granted that police effort was limited and that enforcement would be imperfect.

But they break down when you read all the license plates, or you can subpoena anyone's email, or... whatever.

Making the laws rigid and having perfect enforcement has a cost-- but just the baseline cost to privacy and the squashing of innocent transgression is a cost.

(A counterpoint: a lot of selective law enforcement came down to whether you were unpopular or unprivileged in some way... cheaper and automated enforcement may take some of these effects away and make things more fair. Discretion in enforcement can lead to both more and less just outcomes).

0 comments

miki12321113d ago

This is my problem with Americans and their "but the constitution" arguments.

The U.S. constitution has been written in an age before phones, automatic and semi-automatic rifles (at least in common use), nuclear weapons, high-bandwidth communications networks that operate at lightning speed, mass media, unbreakable encryption and CCTV cameras.

bombcar13d ago

The problem is that "all sides" agree that if the constitution was written today, surprise, surprise, it'd totally agree with them; the gun control people are sure that the 2nd wouldn't cover military weapons, the gun lovers are sure that it would mandate tanks for everyone.

But since having 300 million people have a detailed, nuanced discussion about anything is impossible, everyone works at the edges.

no-name-here13d ago

I think their point was that a lot (but not all) of the existing argument boils down to “Well it should be that way because someone decided it hundreds of years ago” so if we are consciously starting again from scratch, ideally that specific argument no longer holds water. (I’d say we should instead use data based approaches, look at what has been successful in other countries, etc, although that’s slightly expanding the current topic.)

1 more reply

tekne13d ago

I think the fundamental issue is that a form of equality where everyone gets what was previously the worst outcome is... probably worse.

pocksuppet13d ago

Many times when politicians get to suffer the full effects of their laws, the laws quickly change for the better.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse