"allegedly" violating it - he has not been convicted yet, and the presumption of innocence should prevail. We don't know if a jury would find sufficient cause, given the circumstances and the illegal acts that were being covered up, to find sufficient justification.

Kind of like "yes, I went through the red light, but I was carrying someone who had been shot and was bleeding profusely to the hospital as quickly as I could."

Actually, this isn't too far from the truth. I've heard of a few cases where simply changing the URL has brought up documents that should be private and the person who reported it was brought up on charges for "hacking". Unfortunately, the public does not understand the difference between simply poking around and trying to mess up someone's system for nefarious reasons. Perhaps someone here on /. will remember the particular cases involved but as sad as it sounds, you are on a shaky legal foundation.

Boy, 10, dies after his brother accidentally shoots him in the head with a BB gun at close range: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new... http://www.sciencedirect.com/s... http://www.gloucestershireecho... BB gun accident takes life of a 20-year old boy: http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/...

You can surely find a lot more googling a little. I also recommend taking a look at Google image-search. The thing is, if you shoot someone in the head with a BB-gun there actually is quite a risk of bodily harm (torn eyes etc.) and loss of life. They're unlikely to kill you if you fire them somewhere other than the head, but they certainly are dangerous items and they can still cause damage to internal organs, depending where the shot lands and its angle. I have a BB-gun that's capable of easily piercing an aluminum can and I certainly wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of the barrel.

6 months probation is about right for what he did anyway. I can't believe they're clogging prisons with petty criminals like this then turning violent criminals out because of over crowding. A BB gun as a deadly weapon? They're turning the legal system into a farce with that kind of bullshit.

That may be true now, I have no current experience. 20+ years ago it was definitely NOT true. I suffered greatly being homeless. Hell, I suffered greatly even having a fucking job working 6 days a week being paid $3.35 an hour. Housing was, and is, not cheap. Sharing doesn't do any good if the people you share with refuse to ever pay their fair share.

Fuck it. At that point, crimes of theft are not such a big deal. Everyone needs to eat.

In Ohio, criminal records can be expunged except for first and second degree felonies or crimes considered violent- after they are settled and punishment and fines have been paid. There is a process that is sort of like asking for parole but ends up in court with a judge making the final decision.

He said he couldn't get the felonies expunged because he is in Ohio. This means it was either violent, or a serious enough felony that it was a first or second degree felony as defined by the state. I concur, it was not a crime he woke up one day not realizing he was committing or thought was a minor misdemeanor and got roped into a felony.

The thing is, in the good ol' US of A, where less than 10 years ago you could be a felon for owning 6 dildos

Somehow I doubt, the asker was convicted only of violating something as stupid as possession of dildos or innocent as that of marijuana — he would've said so (if any employer even paid attention to it in the first place).

No, he was, by all appearances, genuinely guilty of at least one violent crime — plus some misdemeanors. I'm not saying, he "deserves" never to work in IT at all, but I don't blame the IT-folks — most of whom have not hit anybody in anger since middle school — for not wanting to work (be under the same roof!) with such a guy.

Why would you choose to drag out your anti-Americanism over this, is beyond me...

You can call it whatever you want, but the reality is money flows uphill a lot faster than it flows downhill. The end result is that eventually there will be very little money at all flowing downhill. Whatever you'd like to believe, this problem is a direct result of capitalism.