Some things are illegal but cause no harm, while others are perfectly legal yet hurt vast swaths of the population.
The system sometimes leaves us scratching our heads, wondering why the law allows companies to engage in unscrupulous activities that cause great harm.
Things that Shouldn’t Be Legal
While scrolling through one of my favorite internet communities, I stumbled upon a question asking users to describe legal activities that should be outlawed.
Of course, the answers are geared toward scammy behavior our justice system allows big businesses to get away with, but there’s a sprinkling of practices normal people get away with, too.
Do you agree that these things shouldn’t be legal?
Child Marriage
You probably thought child marriage was already illegal, but it’s still allowed in 34 states. Congress constantly blocks laws to make it illegal nationwide, and the reasoning behind their decision is as gross as allowing child marriage in the first place.
They want to force teenage girls with accidental pregnancies to marry the fathers (who, statistically speaking, are probably adults). The vast majority of child marriages are between minor girls and adult men.
Some states only allow child marriage with parental consent, but as we already discussed, parents have no qualms about abusing their children under the guise of “protecting” them.
This is one of the top things that should be illegal.
For-Profit Prisons
When there is a profit motive for keeping people behind bars, more people will end up behind bars, and for longer.
Our society failed when we allowed for-profit prisons. They only serve to keep folks locked up.
Prisons should be the last resort for people who commit dangerous crimes. It should work to rehabilitate those it can, and provide a secure place to house those who can’t re-integrate into society.
The profit motive makes it worse in every aspect. We end up imprisoning people who aren’t a danger to society and forcing them to stay there longer, just so a giant corporation can make more money.
How is any of this legal?
Making it Difficult to Unsubscribe
Have you noticed that you can typically subscribe to something with the click of a button online, but unsubscribing takes a certified letter plus six hours on the phone?
The internet thinks it should be just as easy to unsubscribe from something as to subscribe. “It should be illegal to take longer or more effort to unsubscribe from something than to subscribe,” said one user, receiving over 3000 upvotes.
Others said they hate when you jump through all the hoops to unsubscribe, but still find yourself paying. “This happened to me with fubo TV!” exclaimed one Redditor. “They charged me for 2 months after I unsubscribed before I caught it.”
The FTC agreed, creating a “Click-to-Cancel” rule that would require companies to offer the same cancellation options as subscription options, but the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals said, “screw the customer!” and blocked the rule.
Factory Farming
We get that humans are omnivores and need to eat meat. And we understand that means we need farms and ranches to produce the meat we eat.
However, we don’t understand why we need to torture the animals before harvesting them.
Factory farms force animals into horrific living conditions. They’re dirty, overcrowded, and miserable. Some are packed so close together that they can’t even move for their entire lives.
Factory farming is one of those things that should be illegal because it harms the animals, but it also could harm the people. The conditions are ripe for disease to spread, some of which could even impact humans.
I know it’s more expensive to give animals a little room, but it’s worth it. We should have more regulations on the farming and ranching industries to ensure livestock is treated humanely.
Sirens in Radio Commercials
We get it; sirens are attention-grabbing. Nothing makes a driver pay more attention to everything around them than hearing the blaze of sirens coming from an unknown direction.
That’s precisely why they’re so dangerous in radio commercials and songs. Drivers can’t immediately tell where they’re coming from, and may make a mistake trying to identify the source.
Others said any distracting noise should be outlawed from the radio airwaves. “Sirens, horn honking, tires screeching, all should not be on the radio,” they said.
Those sounds are supposed to indicate problems on the road, telling drivers to pay closer attention, but when used for advertisements, they lose their value as essential safety indicators.
Force Clicking Ads
Some websites load ads slower than the content, so when a user goes to click a link on the website, they accidentally click the ad that just loaded instead.
“I’m not 100% sure whether this is intentional or not, but it sure does seem like it,” said one Redditor, describing the phenomenon.
As a small website owner, I can guarantee that’s not intentional on my end if it happens. Sometimes things don’t load how you want despite your best efforts, and glitches happen when you’re not a software engineer but trying to maintain a website.
However, web developers from large companies have a different view.
“I’m a web developer and software engineer. I have been asked to implement this “glitch” several times on various large clients’ monetized sites,” claimed one user.
Robo Calls
Some Redditors can’t believe nothing has been done to make scammy robocalls illegal. However, some robocalls are, in fact, illegal.
According to the FTC, robocalls are illegal unless you’ve given written permission to the company to call you. If you receive robocalls, you should file a complaint with the FTC and make sure you are on the national do-not-call registry.
Unfortunately, scammers are going to scam despite the legality of their practices. Most of us no longer answer the phone if we don’t recognize the number.
Congress Owning Stocks
Members of Congress can own individual stocks while passing laws that benefit the very companies they own. This form of insider trading is 100% illegal for everyone except Congresspeople.
One user earned multiple awards and over 6000 upvotes by stating that “Congress being able to own stocks while passing our laws to benefit their portfolios” should be illegal.
There is currently a bill in debate preventing members of Congress and their immediate family members from owning stock, but we doubt it will pass. Legal insider trading is too profitable for Congresspeople.
Most users understand that congresspeople should be able to invest, but would prefer their investments be held in blind trusts for the duration of their terms, so their legislation wouldn’t be motivated by profits.
Puppy Mills
Animal cruelty for profit should be illegal. Many people breed dogs in terrible conditions to sell the puppies for outrageous profits. The mothers are forced to produce litters without a break, and all animals are kept in tiny cages until they’re sent to the pet store.
One user mentioned that it actually is illegal in their area, but people illegally breed their dogs and then complain about needing a license. Unfortunately, most places don’t have the funding to go after these small, private puppy mill breeders.
Online Convenience Fees
Companies are going to get their money, one way or another. With the rise of internet banking and online bill payments, many companies have found a clever way to take even more cash from their customers: the convenience fee for paying online.
Many Redditors think this should be illegal. Why should we have to pay extra to pay in the easiest way for everyone?
Others mentioned that the “fee” helps pay for servers, cybersecurity, and other essentials that keep online transactions safe.
Parental Exploitation
Some parents go too far in exploiting their own kids for profit. Some users said parents shouldn’t be allowed to feature their children prominently on social media and YouTube.
“Parents exploiting their children online via seemingly wholesome family YouTube/TikTok channels,” should be illegal, claimed one user.
“Unlike TV (where there is a finite number of slots), anybody can launch a YouTube/TikTok channel featuring their unable-to-consent young child,” replied another.
Young kids can’t consent to the constant filming, but all too many parents don’t care, making everything about their children’s lives public information. We can only imagine how traumatized these kids will be when they grow up.
Shielding Your Kids from Success
The parental rights groups are going to hate this, but some go way too far in “protecting” their kids.
They’re “protecting” their children from education, medicine, and real-world experience. It should be a human rights violation to willfully keep your child from learning and accessing medical care, but we allow it under the guise of “parental rights”.
We’re allowing kids to grow up without knowing anything about the world to protect the egos of parents who have no business “homeschooling” their kids.
Corporate “Lobbying”
We understand the idea behind lobbying – everyone should have access to their representatives. However, corporations “lobby” by filling politicians’ pockets, making laws that hurt the population while benefiting themselves.
Intuit is the best example. The software company spends an ungodly amount of money to keep the tax code so complex and the IRS so incompetent that citizens are forced to pay for their tax prep software.
That should be illegal.
Payday Loans
Payday loans should be outlawed. These predatory companies prey on people who don’t understand finances (or who are in financial distress) with absurd interest rates that would be considered usury in most other societies.
People fall into the Payday loan cycle and can’t escape. The interest rates can soar to over 600%! Some states cap it, but even those are capped at outrageous numbers, like 30% or more.
We need a better system to give people in distress a helping hand.
Gerrymandering
Everyone in a democratic society deserves a vote, and they deserve a representative who actually represents their community.
Gerrymandering prevents that. It’s a partisan form of district drawing that limits representation by unfairly dividing districts to ensure a certain political party can win more seats.
Although it’s illegal in some states, it’s not illegal in all. It takes away people’s voices, and it should be illegal everywhere.
Insurance and Healthcare
Vitaliy Abbasov via Shutterstock.com.
The healthcare system in the US is despicable. We have to pay insurance companies vast amounts of money to be “covered,” but then pay again when we need to see a doctor and fight insurance companies to get our medical bills paid.
“I pay $400 a month for health insurance for my family, and nothing is covered until we meet our $3700 deductible. Health insurance in the US is a scam,” said one user.
“Despite paying nearly $5000 dollars a year, I don’t have the guarantee that a major health issue won’t bankrupt us,” replied another.
Many agreed that the system needs to be revamped, and the current model should be illegal. “The profit motive has no business being involved in healthcare,” stated one.
Civil Asset Forfeiture
Did you know that many states and localities allow police officers to seize a person’s assets regardless of whether they’ve committed a crime?
Civil asset forfeiture allows police to seize property and assets, including cars and money, if they think the asset may have been used in a crime. The police then charge the property, rather than the person, with a crime.
Because the property doesn’t have civil rights, they don’t have to follow the same legal definitions of innocent until proven guilty.
The police don’t even have to charge the person. Legal fees and the difficulty in getting the property back make it nearly impossible for some people to fight, and the police then get to keep the money and add it to their own budgets.
“You can get pulled over for no reason, and if you have a large amount of cash on you (for things like buying a used car/boat/ATV, or maybe you just won it at a casino), they can literally just take it and send you on your way. And no, you won’t get it back,” stated one user.
We Have the Power to Change the System
A lot of these things should be illegal, but they aren’t, and we don’t do anything to change it.
We have more power than you know.
Write your congresspeople and tell them how outrageous some of these things are. Support candidates who come out against them.
We will only see positive change in the system if we fight for it!