[hackerspaces] Sex Offenders at a 'Space

[Sam Ley]

Ed, I don't think that your assumption that no one is doing anything to
keep people safe is unfair - you don't know the internal policies of the
spaces at hand. And most of us commenting have been clear that our spaces
are private - not publicly funded. Additionally, I'm not recommending
blanket bans - just criteria for entry that are strict, but still evaluated
case by case. For instance if this was a case of "peeing in an alley" sex
offender, the answers here would be very different.

-Sam

On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 9:35 AM, Edward L Platt <ed at elplatt.com> wrote:

> If, like me, you care about protecting minor members in your space, you
> should be focusing on making sure minors are supervised. The unknown sexual
> predators are far more of a risk than the know ones.
>
> If you care about avoiding litigation, make sure to apply your decisions
> evenly. If you ban some people and not others, you are effectively
> endorsing everyone you don't ban, and again, registered sex offenders are
> not the most likely people to commit abuse and assaults. Also, as I
> mentioned before, if you receive any public funds, banning sex offenders is
> a civil rights violation:
> https://www.aclu-nm.org/10th-circuit-upholds-aclu-challenge-to-albuquerque-sex-offender-ban/2012/01/
>
> If you're putting more effort into this email thread and addressing
> specific registered sex offenders than you are into implementing and
> evaluating safe space policies for minors, you're doing little more than
> puffing your own sense of moral superiority. It's sad, but hilarious to see
> so many hackers reinventing and fervently supporting security theater.
>
> -Ed
>
> On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 10:01 AM, Randall Arnold <
> randall.arnold at texrat.net> wrote:
>
>>  The point's been made though: hackerspaces are not equipped to solve
>> problems of mental illness.  Who among the leadership is going to judge
>> whether or not the offender will repeat, and accept the liability?  How do
>> you tell if he's "still a creeper"?  Is the determining factor for "kicking
>> his ass out" another molestation, this time in your hackerspace?
>>
>>
>> Sorry for risking What If recursion.
>>
>>
>> Anyway, like Matt said, there are mistakes and then there are
>> 'mistakes'.  One has to draw a line somewhere, and I go with the thread
>> consensus on this one.
>>
>>
>> Randy
>>
>> On February 18, 2015 at 1:48 AM Derek H <dh405okc at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>  I'm really happy for you and I. We're lucky, Matt. We aren't afflicted
>> with a mental illness that causes inappropriate sexual attraction to those
>> who are incapable of forming consent. That's fantastic for us, but I
>> recognize that some are not as lucky as I in that matter. Perhaps, Matt,
>> the only reason you haven't molested a child is because you're not mentally
>> ill in that particular way? None of us can know for certain how we would
>> behave if we were in someone else's shoes.
>>
>> At any rate, my only point is that the guy may well have gotten his life
>> together and his mental state under control. As we are all just collections
>> of flaws in a roughly bipedal shape, maybe we can be human even to those
>> who have screwed up?
>>
>> That said, if he's still a creeper, kick his ass out. Nobody has time for
>> that kind of disruption and risk.
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>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Edward L. Platt
> http://elplatt.com
> http://civic.mit.edu/users/elplatt
> http://i3detroit.com
> @elplatt <http://twitter.com/elplatt>
>
> This electronic mail message was sent from my desktop personal computer.
> Please forgive any long-winded, overly-prosaic ramblings.
>
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