Ed wrote:
> Jeffrey Kaplan wrote:
>> It is alleged that Jeffrey MacHott claimed:
>>
>>> Did they get arrested?  I figured they just ended up with a lot of 
>>> pissed off people and some free publicity.  To be fair, the Moononites 
>> Yes, they were arrested.  In addition to repaying Boston and
>> Massachusetts for the expense involved in the ensuing terror alert,
>> Turner Broadcasting should foot the legal defense bills for the two
>> guys.
>>
> 
> Why should they pay for someone over reacting. In our legal system the
> common law precept basically says I'm not responsible if some body
> doesn't act in a reasonable way to something I do. How can anybody think
> something with bright flashing lights is a bomb.

It is called the prisoner's dilemma.  When two of you are arrested,
if both of you deny it you may get both away with it, if both of you
admit it you get a medium punishment but if you deny and the other
man confessors then he gets a small punishment and you get a big one.

To a big company the legal fees are a smallish cost.  To a person
they can be more than a years pay.  The cheapest policy for a human
is to plea bargain down to a $10 fine and rat out the big company.
The contract and confession are evidence of conspiracy by the
company.

So the best policy for the big company is to pay for the legal fees,
it is far cheaper than the fines for conspiracy.

Andrew Swallow
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