Exactly. Almost everyone is breaking the law. So it’s really, really easy for the law to be enforced selectively, to punish just about anyone.
I’ve heard this point a bunch but I’ve never actually had it made clear to me: if I’m not doing illegal drugs, what laws am I probably breaking? (edit: that one could enforce against me)
Driving too fast or slow—Rules seem to vary, as does enforcement, but both of these can get you pulled over.
Illegal sex practices—Unless you are married and doing it missionary-style with intent to make babies, it is possible you are violating a sodomy law, or perhaps an obscenity statute. These are obviously difficult to enforce if you care about privacy.
Until fairly recently, all public performances of the Happy Birthday song violated copyright.
File sharing has gotten many people in trouble, over the years.
Taking a Rx medication that was not specifically provided for you.
Gambling of any kind has been banned, though there have been exceptions over the years.
Even if you have never personally violated any of those, “not doing anything wrong” is no defense against a motivated law enforcement official. The sheer volume of statutes, laws, and precedents basically puts all citizens in the position that they are probably violating SOME law all the time. There’s a not-very-good book with the title Three Felonies A Day that tried to argue the title as the thesis, but really ended up as a case study for examples like that Shkreli guy. The only real defense seems to be don’t stick out.
Unless you are married and doing it missionary-style with intent to make babies, it is possible you are violating a sodomy law, or perhaps an obscenity statute.
I’ve heard this point a bunch but I’ve never actually had it made clear to me: if I’m not doing illegal drugs, what laws am I probably breaking? (edit: that one could enforce against me)
Just a few possibilities (These are U.S. examples, because that’s what I know):
Throwing away mail from a previous tenant—Fines up to $250,000 and 5 years in prison. (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1702)
Jaywalking—Municipal rules vary, but not hard to enforce if a cop sees you doing it.
Did you ever possess a marker while under the age of 18? Hopefully you were not in Oklahoma (https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-using-permanent-marker-under-18-years-is-illegal-in-the-USA)
Driving too fast or slow—Rules seem to vary, as does enforcement, but both of these can get you pulled over.
Illegal sex practices—Unless you are married and doing it missionary-style with intent to make babies, it is possible you are violating a sodomy law, or perhaps an obscenity statute. These are obviously difficult to enforce if you care about privacy.
Until fairly recently, all public performances of the Happy Birthday song violated copyright.
File sharing has gotten many people in trouble, over the years.
Taking a Rx medication that was not specifically provided for you.
Gambling of any kind has been banned, though there have been exceptions over the years.
Public urination.
Logging into a wifi network without explicit permission—Federal (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1030) and State laws (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2007/05/michigan-man-arrested-for-using-cafes-free-wifi-from-his-car/) apply to this one.
That Federal law, by the way, is vague enough to get you in trouble for making a facebook page placeholder for you boss (though there’s more to it than just that, this is the law he ended up pleading guilty for violating. https://newsone.com/926425/prison-guard-charged-with-pretending-to-be-his-own-boss-on-facebook/)
Even if you have never personally violated any of those, “not doing anything wrong” is no defense against a motivated law enforcement official. The sheer volume of statutes, laws, and precedents basically puts all citizens in the position that they are probably violating SOME law all the time. There’s a not-very-good book with the title Three Felonies A Day that tried to argue the title as the thesis, but really ended up as a case study for examples like that Shkreli guy. The only real defense seems to be don’t stick out.
In the USA, sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
You could follow the A Crime A Day twitter account.
There’s a book called Three Felonies A Day that talks about it. (I haven’t read the book, just have heard of it.)