While I agree with the general premise, it appears Harvey Silverglate is a fraud. This came up on HN a while ago and I looked up a few of the cases mentioned. A brief search revealed that these people were all actual criminals and he had grossly misrepresented the cases.
The one I remember had to do with shipping undersized lobster tails. He made it out that a bunch of average restaurant owners were sent to jail for years b/c they broke a foreign export law which was somehow enforceable in America due to a law he had a problem with.
What actually happened was these people had been conspiring to to break environmental law for decade by packaging lobster tails in such a way that inspectors found it difficult to inspect them and made mistakes. They had a whole system for routing their stuff to specific ports that had inspecting facilities that were easy to manipulate. They continued doing this for a year after they were informed they were under a federal investigation, right up until they were all arrested.
They made millions of dollars by poaching undersized lobsters and all of the rules they broke were not vague and specifically made their packaging actions illegal, in order to prevent people from doing exactly what they did.
He's the author of "The Shadow University" which was one of the most disruptive blows that's been struck against the large-endowment administrations in the past few decades.
I actually happen to know one of the subjects of Mr. Silverglate's case studies, Nicholas Hermandorffer, who later wrote his thesis on the topic. In my view, his experience was represented accurately and fully, and Mr. Hermandorffer's accounts were closely aligned with phone records, texts, emails, etc., as well as physical evidence.
He's also head of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which ranks universities on their free speech rights, as well as informs students that they sacrifice Constitutional protection to a certain extent living in University housing, as well as provides information on the rights one does retain and how to invoke them.
You seem like somebody with an axe to grind. I wouldn't put too much faith in this guy.
The one I remember had to do with shipping undersized lobster tails. He made it out that a bunch of average restaurant owners were sent to jail for years b/c they broke a foreign export law which was somehow enforceable in America due to a law he had a problem with.
What actually happened was these people had been conspiring to to break environmental law for decade by packaging lobster tails in such a way that inspectors found it difficult to inspect them and made mistakes. They had a whole system for routing their stuff to specific ports that had inspecting facilities that were easy to manipulate. They continued doing this for a year after they were informed they were under a federal investigation, right up until they were all arrested.
They made millions of dollars by poaching undersized lobsters and all of the rules they broke were not vague and specifically made their packaging actions illegal, in order to prevent people from doing exactly what they did.
So I wouldn't put too much faith in this guy.