Imagine that your daughter has been killed in a car crash

[ATG]

You then find out within 24 hours of the accident that pictures of your daughter have been posted on sites like bangedup and ogrish. When I say pictures of your daughter I mean pictures of her insides, half of her face...etc.

Then you find out that it was a Highway Patrol officer that posted the pictures.

Apparently, if you or your loved ones are killed in a crash or murdered there are pretty good odds you or them will end up as a gag for freaks on the internet, courtesy of your government employees. Where do you figure those sites get most of their pictures?





The argument against the suit:

Reich and co-defendant Thomas O'Donnell, who reportedly still works as a CHP dispatcher, cite in court papers their First Amendment rights to free speech in being responsible for the worldwide distribution of the photos through cyberspace.

Nikki's right to privacy also ended with her death, said Schlueter, citing case law.

O'Donnell has admitted to e-mailing the photos to his home computer, but said in court papers that he had the right to do so within the scope of his employment.

The argument for the suit:

An attorney for the Catsouras family said CHP regulations were violated by the photo leak, and that the agency and dispatchers must be held accountable. Accident-scene photos are supposed to be used only for investigative purposes.

"To hide behind First Amendment rights is completely wrong,'' said Tyler Offenhauser, of Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara in Newport Beach. "There's no public interest in these photos.''



Personally, I think those two officers should be killed with a claw hammer by a mob.


http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=300948762
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162007...n_callahan.htm

[Telynn]

Personally, I think those two officers should be killed with a claw hammer by a mob

Agreed.

[alinda]

I cant stand it, thats horrible! My undying sympathy to her family, and I'd be happy to take care of those idiots, do you think it would be ok with their kin if afterwards we post they're photos?

[jayson]

... I'd be happy to take care of those idiots, do you think it would be ok with their kin if afterwards we post they're photos?

my thoughts exactly. these people are vultures and should hope that what goes around doesn't come around.

[ATG]

Curious. Thomas O'Donnell, the guy who released the photos. His picture was all over the O.C. registers website, and now that the trial is coming there is no trace of them.

Seems he has been getting death threats. Too bad, you should have seen his beady little sociopathic eyes.

[John Blaze]

Personally, I think those two officers should be killed with a claw hammer by a mob

Agreed.

Ditto, what an asshole.

[Randall Flagg]

I believe in First Ammendment rights, but would argue that they should be terminated from their employment. Rights as an individual and rights as an employee are two different things.
As far as posting ghoulish pictures, perhaps I am a bit thick skinned, but I simply wouldn't view the pictures, therefore they would hold no power over me. If others wish to feed their appetite for grisly death pictures then so be it.

[jayson]

I believe in First Ammendment rights, but would argue that they should be terminated from their employment. Rights as an individual and rights as an employee are two different things.
As far as posting ghoulish pictures, perhaps I am a bit thick skinned, but I simply wouldn't view the pictures, therefore they would hold no power over me. If others wish to feed their appetite for grisly death pictures then so be it.

I agree with you in a legal sense. I don't think there should be legal repurcussions for their actions aside from the termination. However, there is still the matter of personal justice and karmic retribtuion. All I'm saying is I doubt I'd convict anyone of assaulting the guy if I were on a jury.

[Telynn]

I believe in First Ammendment rights, but would argue that they should be terminated from their employment. Rights as an individual and rights as an employee are two different things.
As far as posting ghoulish pictures, perhaps I am a bit thick skinned, but I simply wouldn't view the pictures, therefore they would hold no power over me. If others wish to feed their appetite for grisly death pictures then so be it.

I saw this story a while ago, and if I remember right the family actually had people e-mailing them the pictures. They had to completely keep their other kids off the internet altogether.

[Brice]

This is the first I've ever heard of anything like this....including those web sites. I had no idea they existed. I'm pretty much for all kinds of freedom of speech, but I think it carries a degree of responsibility too. I'll just say there is something seriously fucked up with the people who post pictures on those sites, the people who go to those sites for "entertainment" , and the people running them. Anything that happens to any of them I could overlook if I were on a jury.

[jayson]

This is the first I've ever heard of anything like this....including those web sites. I had no idea they existed. I'm pretty much for all kinds of freedom of speech, but I think it carries a degree of responsibility too. I'll just say there is something seriously fucked up with the people who post pictures on those sites, the people who go to those sites for "entertainment" , and the people running them. Anything that happens to any of them I could overlook if I were on a jury.

it's seems another sign that we as a society are just a vomitorium or two away from late-era Rome.

[Brice]

Very very true.

[John Blaze]

This is the first I've ever heard of anything like this....including those web sites. I had no idea they existed. I'm pretty much for all kinds of freedom of speech, but I think it carries a degree of responsibility too. I'll just say there is something seriously fucked up with the people who post pictures on those sites, the people who go to those sites for "entertainment" , and the people running them. Anything that happens to any of them I could overlook if I were on a jury.

it's seems another sign that we as a society are just a vomitorium or two away from late-era Rome.

My english teacher in high school used to always say that history shows that the more degraded an empire gets, the closer it is to its demise.

Doesn't bode well for these times we live in.

[jayson]

This is the first I've ever heard of anything like this....including those web sites. I had no idea they existed. I'm pretty much for all kinds of freedom of speech, but I think it carries a degree of responsibility too. I'll just say there is something seriously fucked up with the people who post pictures on those sites, the people who go to those sites for "entertainment" , and the people running them. Anything that happens to any of them I could overlook if I were on a jury.

it's seems another sign that we as a society are just a vomitorium or two away from late-era Rome.

My english teacher in high school used to always say that history shows that the more degraded an empire gets, the closer it is to its demise.

Doesn't bode well for these times we live in.

sad but true my friend.

[ZoNeSeeK]

There is this incredibly alarming trend occuring with the advent of massively available online media, whether its using mobile phones or digital cameras over streaming audio or slideshows on the web: People exploiting other people's misery by broadcasting it to others. Diem was reading out an article regarding the number of cases cropping up over the last few years where young women (and occasionally young men) have been drugged, gang raped and its been filmed on a mobile camera or digital camera, and then shared publically.

Of course, crimes like these aren't new, but its the recording and distribution of footage which is. It magnifies the already significant trauma to the victim (or in this car accident case, the girl's family) 100-fold. This broadcasting of horrific events for the entertainment of others really needs to be examined by judicial authorities as it exacerbates harm to victims.

In my opinion, anyone that views footage of gang rape scenes and doesn't alert police is just as fucking guilty. In the majority of these cases, the victim's life is effectively ruined, and in a minority of cases, the victims suicide.

So not only are perpetrators bragging about their crimes, they gloat about them over repeated viewings of the footage. Honestly, I don't care if they happen to be 16 years of age - this is some serious pathological behaviour going on and they need to be tried as adults. I don't care if you havent finished school yet and mummy is wailing about her little boy: her little boy is a monster and his parents have raised a rapist.

[mia/susannah]

You then find out within 24 hours of the accident that pictures of your daughter have been posted on sites like bangedup and ogrish. When I say pictures of your daughter I mean pictures of her insides, half of her face...etc.

Then you find out that it was a Highway Patrol officer that posted the pictures.

Apparently, if you or your loved ones are killed in a crash or murdered there are pretty good odds you or them will end up as a gag for freaks on the internet, courtesy of your government employees. Where do you figure those sites get most of their pictures?





The argument against the suit:

Reich and co-defendant Thomas O'Donnell, who reportedly still works as a CHP dispatcher, cite in court papers their First Amendment rights to free speech in being responsible for the worldwide distribution of the photos through cyberspace.

Nikki's right to privacy also ended with her death, said Schlueter, citing case law.

O'Donnell has admitted to e-mailing the photos to his home computer, but said in court papers that he had the right to do so within the scope of his employment.

The argument for the suit:

An attorney for the Catsouras family said CHP regulations were violated by the photo leak, and that the agency and dispatchers must be held accountable. Accident-scene photos are supposed to be used only for investigative purposes.

"To hide behind First Amendment rights is completely wrong,'' said Tyler Offenhauser, of Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara in Newport Beach. "There's no public interest in these photos.''



Personally, I think those two officers should be killed with a claw hammer by a mob.


http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=300948762
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162007...n_callahan.htm

I agree with you, they should be killed with a claw hammer by a mob but they
need to be tortured first. Can you imagine what the poor family of that girl went through. That really makes my blood boil.

[HanzouNorak]

In my opinion, anyone that views footage of gang rape scenes and doesn't alert police is just as fucking guilty.

unless you've got an adress, its rather pointless. whoevers hosting the site would be a better person to tell, unless its the person who commited these crimes, at which point one would report the site to police.
now to my post,
i, as usual, cant really say anything that hasn't been covered, my opinion is obviously that its horrible. god theres time i want to ask why, why would you do this? but i cant, why? because i already know, some people, many infact, are constantly atracted to horror and voilence in this manner, and they go trolling for it over the internet. this, in turn, helps it ciruclulate all over the fucking net. its really a horrible thing, will it stop? maybe in about a hundered years or so, people will keep doing this as surely as war will continue.

[Mattrick]

My english teacher in high school used to always say that history shows that the more degraded an empire gets, the closer it is to its demise.

Doesn't bode well for these times we live in.

America has always had a sick of obsession with violence and has a history of it. The Salem Witch Trials, Hiroshima, Civil War, Vietnam. Even now with school shootings. Guns are everywhere in America, violence is everywhere, this is merely a more disturbing representation of a nations dark history. Of course if it's there, people will look at it, I know I've seen such pictures before. It is an indication to how desensitized some of us have become to the point where human suffering is entertainment.

[Armand St Pierre]

it's seems another sign that we as a society are just a vomitorium or two away from late-era Rome.

Uh Huh

[She-Oy]

This is a slight diversion from this particular incident, but it's along the same morality line (at least I think)...

So I have been wanting to go see the "Bodies" exhibit that is currently on tour here in Las Vegas for a few months now. I keep forgetting about it, but last week I was reminded of my wanting to see it when I kept noticing ABC's 20/20 doing a story on it. I was solidly prepared to take the whole family (Drew included, even though my mom and sister thought I was nuts because he's only 9...but he loves stuff like that, so I was using my parental intuition that he would be ok and enjoy it).

So I eagerly watched 20/20 to firm up plans to go. But that's not what I got out of the program...

Turns out most of the bodies are Asian. And there's a really good chance that these bodies are those of executed prisoners taken without permission of themselves or their families. Apparently the people in charge of the "Bodies" exhibit in America pay the Chinese government $200 per body with no questions asked. They are shipped here breaking just about every law known to Americans regarding human remains. And it's done by calling them "plastic for medical research". But they aren't plastic when they are on the ship, they are just dead bodies chilled to prevent decomposure.

If anyone here knows anything about the Asian religions and their treatment of their dead, they would know this type of thing is a BIG no-no. And here we are, hungry Americans starved for morbidity and entertainment paying upwards $30 a ticket to this huge corporation who pockets the money for their own gain (not medical research).

They actually interviewed the German scientist/artist who invented and started the plastification of bodies and who has his own displays and he actually wept on camera stating that was not his intention for his invention. All of the German's bodies ARE donated by either families or the subjects themselves...not Asians.

So basically I was appalled by this. Not the subject matter, because I think they are fantastically intriguing, but by the means of procuring the bodies themselves.

It sickens me that we as Americans would allow major companies to profit from something so low. You might as well charge admission to local morgues for people to gawk at if this is the case.

[ZoNeSeeK]

[quote]

In my opinion, anyone that views footage of gang rape scenes and doesn't alert police is just as fucking guilty.

unless you've got an adress, its rather pointless. whoevers hosting the site would be a better person to tell, unless its the person who commited these crimes, at which point one would report the site to police.

Sorry I'll clarify - more on people viewing footage on someone's mobile phone, not on the internet. Anonymous viewing on the internet is almost impossible to police like you said, and its the responsibility of the host to make sure they have their content under control. Some of these drug/rape incidinces reported the perpetrators showing their footage to others who did nothing about it.

[CRinVA]

I am a decent moral person. Yes, I know that is my opinion, but that is the only opinion that matters in this case. I am afraid that if this atrocity happened to me and those were pictures of my daughter, I am not sure that I would continue to be a decent moral person. I could not look at the pictures, but knowing they are pasted all over the internet would be too much. I might have to take the injustice into my own hands (legally or otherwise) - I know that would be wrong, but I think that emotion would totally overcome sanity at this point.

My heart goes out to the family that this occurred to! Freedom of Speech be damned - this is just not right!

[Storyslinger]

Personally, I think those two officers should be killed with a claw hammer by a mob.

Exactly

[Jean]

Personally, I think those two officers should be killed with a claw hammer by a mob.

Exactly

Precisely.

Here in Russia anything can be said about anything or anybody using any media (any attempt to put any restraints on at least the most indecent or dangerous things are immediately met with cries of Democracy Being Murdered). Not only those dead, but also those still alive. When one of our very best, much loved and respected actors was dying of cancer, he was haunted and harrassed by media all the time. His days were numbered out loud on TV screens (mind you, we don't have commercial channels... we have about 30 or so channels, most of them so-called "independent", that is dependent on business groups, and they are all free and come to all houses indiscriminately). Moreover, legends were created about the Sure Medicine he is taking, and some murderous quacks made a buck on people credibility (medicines can be advertised on our TV, too. By anyone who, having enough money, wants to push any hangman's finger powder). Once the actor summoned the last of his strength and appeared on TV. He begged people at least not to believe those "miraculous cures" they were being pushed. Soon he died.

When Chechen terrorists kept hostages in that theater in the center of Moscow, the TV happily showed our snipers on the roofs and shared any details of the counter-terrorist operation they have been able to pick. On TV. While the hostages were there, in the theater, praying for salvation. How many of their deaths are on the conscience of those "reporters"? And weren't those actions just plain treason?

[Storyslinger]

Wow, that is complete bs Jean. I can't believe that is aloud allowed.