This story has nothing to do with whales. It is about civil liberties, overcriminalization of normal behavior, and the abandonment of one Of the most important building blocks of our common law tradition, mens rea, which required criminal intent in order to constitute a crime.
This is yet another example of the overreach of federal agents and prosecutors. It is similar to the case where an internet service provider was charged with wiretapping because his software copied emails as a function of delivering them to his clients, a function which every ISP performs in servicing such deliveries.
It is like the doctor who was charged with drug trafficking as a consequence of prescribing a drug to a patient who was in fact a drug dealer, and who duped the unwitting doctor into writing the prescription.
It is like the federal case that killed the Arthur Anderson auditing firm because employees were knowingly destroying documents. The documents were required by long standing retention policy to be destroyed, and there was no malicious intent.
It is like the ongoing harassment of Gibson guitar company, which despite being one of the leaders in use of sustainablly harvested woods is being harassed for what appear to be labeling mistakes in the acquisition of woods from india.
