Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)
This was a fascinating read; good on the author for not losing her cool in that absurd two months. As a British citizen, though, there were a number of things that piqued my interest about the proceedings as described in Maryland and the USA in general.<p>- Why was the Maryland State Attorney so keen to continue with the prosecution, despite a hostile witness? In general, why do individuals and companies appear (to an outsider) to have so much influence in the USA to &#x27;press charges&#x27;? From a theoretical perspective, it doesn&#x27;t seem like there is any advantage to the criminal justice system in allowing people to persuade the prosecutors to open a case, since a large company like Comcast could churn out hundreds of vaguely plausible but socially inconsequential claims of fraud, when the prosecutors could surely find better things to spend their time on.<p>- Why is it possible to attempt to &#x27;avoid being served&#x27; at all? I can&#x27;t see anything wrong with receiving the notice by mail like any other correspondence. Are police officers in the USA really expected to just drive around as glorified (and armed, for that matter) postmen for the prosecutor&#x27;s notices of petty criminal charges?<p>- Finally, and, for me, most importantly, how could the author have acquired a criminal record from a case that was dropped prior to a trial, let alone a conviction? It seems really dodgy that, in order to &#x27;expunge&#x27; the record of a crime that the state doesn&#x27;t necessarily think occurred, you have to agree to indemnify a third party from your claims of damages when that third party had no involvement originally except to initially report the &#x27;crime&#x27;, and even more so in this case, as the author opens by noting that there wasn&#x27;t even a contractual relationship between them!<p>I&#x27;m under no pretence that my own country&#x27;s judiciary is perfect, but it appears to me that the USA has a number of bizarre procedural bottlenecks that could be fixed with little more than a stroke of a pen. That begs the question: who stands to gain from this? Eagerly awaiting responses from knowledgable and&#x2F;or wise Americans!