Following Hertfordshire Police's admission, Nigel sought compensation for a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998, false imprisonment, police assault/battery, and trespass by police...In October 2016, Hertfordshire Police settled out of court. Nigel received damages of £60,000, plus legal costs..."It isn't enough money," Nigel says, "but after six years of fighting, you're tired."
That sucks, big time.
It is also true that combative lawsuits actually increase the problem, making it more and more unlikely that anybody will voluntarily admit mistakes. So if you're some police clerk and you mis-type an IP address and somebody's life gets ruined, best circle the wagons and keep your mouth shut. Maybe -- maybe -- you could help the poor schmuck get exonerated, but you'd have to be really careful about how you do it.
I hate that, but that is how large systems of people operate. It quite quickly becomes "us versus them"
There's another aspect to this story that I don't think people discuss enough: for many topics, both law enforcement and the general public are either completely disinterested or want to burn you at the stake. There doesn't seem to be much middle ground or nuance.
Have a picture of child porn on your computer? There are folks who argue that not only should you be imprisoned, but that you should never be released. Are you 20 and dating a 17-year-old? People say that's the same thing. Are you a a teenager and send a naked picture of yourself to a friend? You could very well be a child pornographer.
This, by any definition of the word, is insane.
And it's worse than that. Sexual harassment is such a bad thing that for many folks, there doesn't even have to be any evidence of it. As long as one person says that another person sexually harassed them? Somebody needs to be fired. Somebody should go to jail. There are even those folks that based on a story that one person types on the internet will say "This other person? They're a sexual predator" -- it's the grown-up version of kiddie porn. You're either completely innocent of everything or you're the fucking Evil One incarnate. Once again, insane.
I have no answers, but I do observe that when this type of over-reaction to any kind of perceived crime happens in a small village, it's not such a big deal. Some small social groups have social norms that vary quite a bit, and over time they influence one another. I am reminded that the Salem Witch trials ended when, in part, folks in the biggest nearby town asked something like "How could there be so many witches in Salem and none here? How does that make sense?"
What we're seeing now is a village-ization of the world. There are people who want only one social group, across the planet, and they want it to have the same norms. That's fantastically fucked up, but I don't think the people doing it have any idea of that. Folks like Nigel are just collateral damage in this mission of theirs.
That sucks, big time.
It is also true that combative lawsuits actually increase the problem, making it more and more unlikely that anybody will voluntarily admit mistakes. So if you're some police clerk and you mis-type an IP address and somebody's life gets ruined, best circle the wagons and keep your mouth shut. Maybe -- maybe -- you could help the poor schmuck get exonerated, but you'd have to be really careful about how you do it.
I hate that, but that is how large systems of people operate. It quite quickly becomes "us versus them"
There's another aspect to this story that I don't think people discuss enough: for many topics, both law enforcement and the general public are either completely disinterested or want to burn you at the stake. There doesn't seem to be much middle ground or nuance.
Have a picture of child porn on your computer? There are folks who argue that not only should you be imprisoned, but that you should never be released. Are you 20 and dating a 17-year-old? People say that's the same thing. Are you a a teenager and send a naked picture of yourself to a friend? You could very well be a child pornographer.
This, by any definition of the word, is insane.
And it's worse than that. Sexual harassment is such a bad thing that for many folks, there doesn't even have to be any evidence of it. As long as one person says that another person sexually harassed them? Somebody needs to be fired. Somebody should go to jail. There are even those folks that based on a story that one person types on the internet will say "This other person? They're a sexual predator" -- it's the grown-up version of kiddie porn. You're either completely innocent of everything or you're the fucking Evil One incarnate. Once again, insane.
I have no answers, but I do observe that when this type of over-reaction to any kind of perceived crime happens in a small village, it's not such a big deal. Some small social groups have social norms that vary quite a bit, and over time they influence one another. I am reminded that the Salem Witch trials ended when, in part, folks in the biggest nearby town asked something like "How could there be so many witches in Salem and none here? How does that make sense?"
What we're seeing now is a village-ization of the world. There are people who want only one social group, across the planet, and they want it to have the same norms. That's fantastically fucked up, but I don't think the people doing it have any idea of that. Folks like Nigel are just collateral damage in this mission of theirs.