Re:US Man Given Prison Sentence for Bot-Farming Music Streams
by colejohnson66 on Thursday October 08, 2026 @05:37PM
(#50012698)
Not necessarily. One can walk into a bank, slide a note and a bag, and (hopefully) walk out. No threats involved. Still a federal crime.
Re:US Man Given Prison Sentence for Bot-Farming Music Streams
by godwinson__4-8 on Thursday October 08, 2026 @06:12PM
(#50013132)
I feel like you are missing the rather obvious or else the note implies. Luckily the law is not so rigid as to be hamstrung by such sophistry. I didn't assault you, I merely invited your face to make an acquaintance with my fist!
The reason the note works is banks don't want to pay the cost of having their employees getting their brains blown out. Passing a note with this understanding means one knows they are making a threat.
Re:US Man Given Prison Sentence for Bot-Farming Music Streams
by iamnothere on Thursday October 08, 2026 @07:54PM
(#50014086)
Agreed, and if this didn’t involve the threat of violence then imprisonment wouldn’t necessarily be justified—in other words, if this were the case, it would make sense to change the law to a purely monetary penalty. But of course it is an implicit threat!
To justify imprisonment (rather than purely monetary penalties or civil judgements) you really have to look at the relative scale of harm and the type of harm inflicted. Imprisonment doesn’t always make sense, there are many nonviolent crimes where a purely monetary penalty would be more appropriate. For one thing, imprisonment can prevent people from paying back the victim.