Index of category youthrights

Death Note witch trials

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:39:32 GMT

There's a popular anime series called Death Note whose plot revolves around a magical notebook (the "Death Note" of the title). Humans whose names are written in the Death Note, die. The book falls into the hands of a high-school student who uses it to go on a killing spree - starting with criminals he thinks the world will be better off without, but quickly moving on to killing the police too in order to protect himself from discovery. This series is currently being shown on US television in translation, and it's already been very popular in the original Japanese, and as happens with popular anime series, there've been licensed products based on it. Including notebooks styled to look like the Death Note. [478 words...]

On Kodomo no Jikan and instigation

Thu, 31 May 2007 22:12:05 GMT

A great deal has already been said about Seven Seas and Kodomo no Jikan/Nymphet. People who want to know about that stuff already do. There is just one thing relating to that mess that I'd like to comment on here; it concerns a point in Jason DeAngelis's first public statement on the subject. He has since retracted some of the statement, but the principle illustrated is more general than just this one incident. [1151 words...]

Corporal punishment vs. torture

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 00:24:12 GMT

Here's a thought: If you think that corporal punishment of children is okay, it seems like you have to conclude that corporal punishment of criminals, like they do in Singapore, is okay too. After all, the criminals deserve it more. And then if you think that corporal punishment of criminals is okay, it's just a small step to saying that torture of suspects (maybe only the very WORST suspects, maybe limited to the nonsensical "ticking time bomb" situation, if you're a little squeamish, certainly perpetrated by someone other than you...) is okay too. You have to say that because the purported arguments in favour of torture are stronger. The bad people were able to convince the US Congress to allow torture of suspects and not corporal punishment of criminals, for instance. I'm not even clear on what the difference between "torture" and "corporal punishment" even is, except that torture seems to be less of a moral problem. [252 words...]

WWASPS critic loses suit

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 18:21:32 GMT

Slashdot is covering this story, but only from the point of view of "online defamation": a jury awarded US$11.3 million to someone who claimed to have been defamed online. It was a default judgement - the defendant didn't put in any defence - and it turned out that that was because she'd been forced to flee her home due to Hurricane Katrina during the relevant time period, and as a result she never received the papers notifying her of the suit. There's a lot being said about the case, but as far as I know, nobody has yet drawn any attention to what I consider the most interesting part of the story. [755 words...] NEW: link to Bock press release

Cyber Patrol break FAQ (version 1.11)

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 15:21:45 GMT

Frequently asked questions about The Breaking of Cyber Patrol® 4 and related court cases. NEW: New, easier to maintain table of contents