Originally published at: Canada proposes new law to punish moon crimes | Boing Boing
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Loonies.
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Hmm? I’m Canadian and not concerned by this. Americans may have forgotten the feeling of not being afraid of your government?
In any case, it’s likely this wouldn’t hold up in court if challenged, both because of maritime law and the outer space treaty.
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I must be confused as to why this is an issue. People believe that when an inevitable illegal act is committed off-world, it should be unable to be prosecuted?
I’d be concerned if this was an attempt to usurp the legal powers of another state, but in this case there is no other government AFAIK.
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Yeah, this kind of law is pretty common and allows governments to punish citizens for bribery or unspeakable crimes involving children even when those crimes happen outside their borders.
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This one time at “moon camp”.
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The idea of “hey lets go somewhere the laws don’t apply so I can do bad things without legal consequences” baffles me… no wait not baffles. Disappoints. That’s it. I understand that the people who think this way feel constrained by following social norms and do so only because they are forced to. Much the same way as a very religious person I knew that claimed the only thing stopping him from being a murderous psychopath was his faith.
The laws to not to bad things are so that bad things don’t get done much (bestest english!), generally this applies anywhere you go. (baring specifics that are locally appropriate and/or not more universally held ideals such as blasphemy laws or laws targeting specific genders, or minority groups)
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Exxxxxxxxcelent use of The Tick from the 90s my friend. CHA indeed.
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I for one am all for cracking down on despicable moon litterers.
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Isn’t the real problem that Lord Musk is worried that his off-world peons would have rights and protections extending from their home country?
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That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.
States have always been able to prosecute their citizens for crimes they commit elsewhere. That’s how people get nailed for Underage Sex Tourism, and for failing to file their US income taxes. And the Outer Space Treaty requires that the state take responsibility for the actions of its citizens. And maritime law means the laws of the country of registry take effect regardless of where you are located. International waters just means there is no territorial law that applies.
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We’ve already got those;
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