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Space: the final frontier.
It is a merciless void full of cosmic phenomenon hellbent on killing you, the single most uninhabitable
environment in the universe.
Just to reach it demands the very best of nations- the finest engineering, the most
intelligent scientists, and the bravest, most upstanding of astronauts.
With not just lives, but hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in every launch, the astronauts
who represent their home nations also represent the very best of that nation- yet despite
this, it seems we're all fallible, and prone to crimes of passion.
That's right, the first ever space crime has finally been committed, and some people are
wondering exactly how is this going to work really?
You've probably seen a Hollywood movie or two where the crooks try to make a break for
open sea.
Once out in international waters they can't be convicted of criminal acts, after all,
nobody owns the open sea, right?
Well, that's only half true, because nobody in fact does own the open sea, and it actually
belongs to everybody.
That however does not mean by any length that you can get away with crimes scott free.
See long ago the international community got together and agreed that there had to be a
legal framework for crimes committed on the high seas.
The problem was, who's laws should be followed in open waters, and if one country's laws
were enacted everywhere, then wouldn't that sort of violate the whole, 'nobody owns the
open ocean' thing?
To simplify matters, the world agreed to some basic maritime laws that all nations would
adopt, and be applicable to ship traffic anywhere in the world.
But for individual crimes, it was decided that national law would dictate if what you
did was a crime or not.
Basically, whatever nation a ship is registered in, that’s the country whose laws will be
enforced on board that vessel.
So if you committed, say, murder on the high seas while aboard a Pakistani ship, you would
be tried and punished under Pakistani law regardless of your own nationality.
Thankfully nations generally agree on the big don'ts out of the ten commandments, so
there's no nation you can register your ship with that will let you throw giant murder
parties and get away with it.
Less fortunately, there's a huge disparity in other laws that govern other issues, such
as safety and worker compensation.
That is why most big transport vessels are actually registered in Panama, the Marshall
Islands, and Liberia, as it allows their operators to pay their crews less and pay less taxes
overall.
Now we turn our focus to space, and the world's first bonafide space-crime.
Anne McClain is an astronaut and former US Air Force combat pilot with over 800 flight
hours in a combat environment.
Recently however she was on a six-month mission to the International Space Station, and while
aboard the ISS, committed the world's first space crime.
Back on earth, McClain and her partner had been undergoing a very messy divorce.
In order to keep tabs on her partner's financial activities, McClain used the ISS's internet
connection to log into her partner's bank account, despite the fact that at that moment
the two were in the middle of a divorce.
She used the information to confront her partner about several aspects of the divorce's settlement,
and in turn, McClain's partner filed a criminal complaint against her.
According to her partner, McClain improperly accessed her finances and stole her identity,
so to speak, in order to gain access to those financial records.
McClain counters by saying that she was simply overseeing their joint finances, as she had
often done while they were married.
However as of this episode this is all still just allegations, and because we don’t live
in China, McClain is innocent until proven guilty.
Granted, it's not as exciting as smuggling dylithium crystals or even space-murder, but
inappropriately logging into someone else's secure bank records is still a pretty serious
crime, and can in fact be construed legally speaking as identity theft.
Punishment varies on a state by state basis, but identity theft is a felony in every state
in the union- in Georgia for example you can receive up to ten years in prison.
This however raises a rather curious point about McClain's crime, what state exactly
would she be tried in for a crime committed from outer space?
While in space all astronauts are governed by national law, no different than if they
were on the high seas.
On the ocean though, McClain would have faced the consequences for whatever state the vessel
was registered in the United States- but in space, the International Space Station is,
well, international.
While astronauts themselves are governed by the law of their home country, details get
murky in this case as far as what state should McClain be tried in if found guilty of identity
theft.
In some cases the federal government steps in, specially if identity theft charges are
brought against someone who has committed the act across several states.
But this is usually reserved for big-time offenders, such as major hackers or criminal
figures who's actions might span across the entire nation and in fact the world.
McClain wasn't even in the world when she committed her crime though, so who is going
to punish her and under what jurisdiction?
This is of course assuming that McClain is found guilty, which is being investigated
now.
NASA's inspector general is itself looking into the matter, and likely there will be
no charges filed as the evidence against McClain may be a bit weak- most married couples after
all do know each other's financial records information.
Still, this whole case has got many people back on earth thinking about the consequences
of humanity's ever-expanding presence in space.
Even now Elon Musk is preparing to test a rocket that could take dozens of people into
orbit and beyond per launch, and he has repeatedly stated that his ultimate goal is human colonization
of the solar system.
Will these new human colonies follow the laws of their home countries too?
Or should they be allowed to create new laws and govern themselves?
What claim does earth really have on people who live so far away it takes years and hundreds
of millions of dollars just to get to them?
These are all questions that humanity is going to have to start answering very soon indeed,
and it may be interesting to think that though the first colonies in space may be American,
Russian, and Chinese in origin, their distance and difficulty in physically getting to these
colonists may see them declare independence.
Perhaps martians are already amongst us, because some of earth's children may grow up one day
and go to live on Mars permanently, eventually deciding that they want to govern themselves.
Whatever the future holds, one thing is for certain, humanity is going to take its best
to the stars, along with its many vices, and we better be ready to deal with the consequences.
But you don’t need to go to space to find high tech crimes being committed, they’re
happening here on earth right now!
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How should we punish crimes in space?
Space jail?
Picking up trash out of earth’s orbit on a space chain gang?
Tell us your ideas in the comments!
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