(June 4, 2013 at 2:34 pm)Mister Agenda Wrote:(June 4, 2013 at 1:16 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: The police explained it by way of an analogy: If someone texts you and says "I'm gonna burn your house down", not illegal. If they show up on your porch with a can of gasoline and say the same thing, it is.
If you think that's messed up, I would not disagree.
It's messed up, but there are just not enough cops in the world to go after everyone who says they're going to kill someone. They have to prioritize, and probably over 99% of the time, nothing comes of an angry guy saying he's going to kill you. Ubiquitus recording might make it possible to resolve issues like that as civil matters without someone having to be arrested.
Oh, I absolutely agree with you. Cops can't be anywhere, and I doubt many of us would want to live in a society where every violation of every law was ruthlessly enforced.
I don't see it as much of a credible threat myself. The guy's a coward who preys on the helpless, and I've got 5" and a good 80 pounds on him. I think he's far more afraid of me than I ever would be of him - even though I'm a big harmless teddy bear (*).
(*) with very sharp claws.