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Man fined for criticizing govt using science, without a license
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EEVblog:

--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on July 14, 2019, 12:43:34 pm ---- Actually producing a copy of a degree you don't have is producing a fake document and *is* illegal in many, if not all countries in the world.

--- End quote ---

Nope, I can go hang a fake PhD degree from MIT on my wall no problem.
I could walk around the streets with the fake degree hanging around my neck.
The police aren't going to come and arrest me, as no crime has been committed.
No fine is going to come in the mail from anyone.
You are free to make a fake degree, and you are free to be in possession of a fake degree. It's what you do with that fake document that could potentially get you caught under some law like fraud.
i.e. you won't be convicted of a crime because you just possessed a fake degree.
SiliconWizard:
Not over here though!

We have a law article called "faux et usage de faux". That would roughly translate to "fake documents and use of fake documents".
It introduces things as such: "La fabrication et l'utilisation de faux documents sont des délits." Roughly: "The making and use of fake documents are offences."

Just *making* a fake document is punishable by the french law, even if you don't use it. That is called "délit de faux". It includes making fake diplomas, ID documents, and many others.

When you use it to claim something in return (for administrative, employment reason, whatever...), it is called "usage de faux".

From the law itself, both cases are punishable with up to 3 years prison and a fine of up to 45.000EUR. It's likely that judgments related to just making a fake document without ever using it are much lighter in practice than when it has been used, but the law itself doesn't clearly make a difference.

iMo:
France is still inside the EU, therefore in most EU it works the same way :)

FYI - moreover, there have been many cases in EU recently the high profile people were fired from their positions because they cheated while they wrote their thesis, based on which they got an academic title. There are special systems scanning the documents searching for copy/paste texts. You also lose your title in such a case.
soldar:

--- Quote from: imo on July 14, 2019, 02:33:31 pm --- France is still inside the EU, therefore in most EU it works the same way :)
--- End quote ---
That's quite a jump there. I hope you didn't hurt yourself.

National legal systems of EU countries are their own with only minimal EU requirements about Human Rights and other general stuff.

A person can be accused of a crime in one EU country and take refuge in another EU country and not be extradited.

Even American states have different laws. Much more so in Europe.


But, yes, in some countries forging certain documents can be strict liability crimes while in others mens rea must be proven.

Forging currency and possession of forged currency is, AFAIK, a strict liability crime almost everywhere and anywhere.

Being in possession of a forged professional license, like being in possession of lock-picking tools, probably requires evil intent to constitute a crime in most Common Law countries. Of course, the nefarious intentions are why they got you in the first place so...
soldar:

--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on July 14, 2019, 01:09:12 pm --- I guess the state of Oregon considered that the term "engineer" was legally meaning "licensed engineer" over there. Since the guy was living in Oregon, he was supposed to abide by local laws. That's still pretty stupid but hey...
--- End quote ---
He never represented himself as an engineer licensed in Oregon.  It wasn't only stupid, it was also wrong, as they later admitted.
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