Holographic Laws

[marsh8472]

If star trek holographic technology were a reality, what kind of laws should be made to regulate it?

These are episodes I can recall legal issues coming up

DS9 "Our Man Bashir" - walking in on someone's holodeck program

BASHIR: Now get out.
GARAK: But Doctor, I've only just arrived.
BASHIR: Breaking into a holosuite during someone's programme is not only rude, it's illegal. I should call Odo and have you arrested.

TNG "Hollow Pursuits" - simulating crew members on the holodeck

(They find the three musketeers and the blue boy by the folly)
LAFORGE: Like I said, Commander, Barclay's been running some unusual programs.
RIKER: This is a violation of protocol. Crewmembers should not be simulated in the holodeck.
LAFORGE: Commander I don't think there's any regulation against
RIKER: Well there ought to be. Computer, discontinue programme and erase.

DS9 "Business as Usual" - selling weapons on DS9 bypassing local laws by creating the weapons on the holodeck without having to bring weapons on the station

QUARK: You want me to sell weapons, don't you?
GAILA: That's what I do. Now I know you've had reservations about entering this lucrative field. It's dangerous, it's too technical, it's not a people business. But let me tell you something, cousin. Nothing could be further from the truth.
QUARK: I've told you before, I can't smuggle weapons through this station. Odo would be on to me in a second.
GAILA: Who said anything about bringing weapons here?
...
ODO: I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I believe you know the way to the Security Office.

[Security office]


QUARK: None of these charges are going to stick. I haven't broken any laws. I have a license to run holosuites.
ODO: But you don't have a license to sell weapons, do you?
QUARK: I defy you to prove that I brought a single weapon onto the station.
ODO: It's a mere technicality. We both know what you're doing. And I promise you, you're going to face the consequences.
SISKO: Not today, he isn't.
(Sisko and Kira enter.)
SISKO: Let him go.
ODO: Let him go?
SISKO: Major, tell the Constable what you told me.
KIRA: The Bajoran government insists that Deep Space Nine not interfere with the lawful transactions of Hagath or his associates. Hagath supplied arms to the Resistance. Without him, or people like him, we'd all be dead. The Cardassians would still be in power. We owe him.
ODO: Captain!
SISKO: I don't like it any more than you do.
QUARK: Better luck next time.
SISKO: You better hope there isn't a next time, mister. I have cut you a lot of slack in the past. I even looked away once or twice when I could have come down hard on you. But those days are over. Now, we may not be able to get you for selling weapons but you so much as litter on the Promenade and I will nail you to the wall.

TNG "Descent Part 1" - laws on what is necessary to disable safety protocols

DATA: Stop it. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Computer, reset simulation to time index two point one. Increase Borg strength by thirty percent.
COMPUTER: Unable to comply. A thirty percent increase would exceed safety limits.
DATA: Geordi, the computer will require the voice authorisations of two senior officers in order to disable the safety routine. Will you help me?

DS9 "Meridian" - creating Kira on the holodeck without her permission, taking a holophoto without her permission

TIRON: What I want is not in your catalogue.
QUARK: Well, tell me what it is and I'll order it for you. It may take some time, but if it exists I'll get it.
TIRON: That's just the point, Quark. The programme I want doesn't exist. Not yet, anyway.
QUARK: A custom programme? It'll be expensive.
(Tiron takes a large piece of gold-pressed latinum from his sleeve.)
QUARK: For that kind of money you can move into a holosuite. Now, what is it you want?
TIRON: I want Major Kira.
QUARK: Kira? What are you going to do with Kira in a holosuite? No, don't tell me. I don't want to know.
TIRON: Can you do it?
QUARK: It isn't going to be easy. I'd have to get her into the holosuite and record her image, and she hates holosuites.
....
(Kira and Odo are being filmed from Quark's. Odo can see him and is leaning across his view of Kira.)
QUARK: Odo, move out of there. You're ruining my shot.
KIRA: Odo?
ODO: Oh, Major. Why is Quark trying to take a holo-picture of you?
KIRA: Looks to me like he's pointing it at both of us.
ODO: True, but every time I stand in front of you he seems to get very upset.
(They go across to Quark.)


[Quark's cafe]

QUARK: Where are you going? Uh-oh
KIRA: What do you think you're doing, Quark?
QUARK: Nothing.
KIRA: Then what's this?
QUARK: Oh, you mean this holo-imager? I was just recording an image of the Promenade to send home to my mother.
ODO: Ha!
KIRA: You're trying to take a holo-scan of me and I want to know why.
QUARK: Of you? Not at all. You just happened to get in the frame.
ODO: Ha!

Voyager "Living Witness" - making holograms accountable for their actions

QUARREN: There are other issues to be resolved.
EMH: What kind of issues?
QUARREN: You're the Voyager doctor. A lot of people are going to have questions. On our world, artificial lifeforms are considered sentient and responsible for their actions. You might have to face charges.
EMH: Charges?
QUARREN: For your crimes. You designed the bio-weapons that killed eight million Kyrians.
EMH: I did nothing of the sort.
QUARREN: All of our evidence shows that you were a war criminal.

Voyager "Nothing Human" - Programs that violate people's ethics like the EMH using the Moset program

CHAKOTAY: Come in.
TABOR: Commander.
CHAKOTAY: This request of yours to be relieved of duty. I won't grant it.
TABOR: I have the right to resign my commission.
CHAKOTAY: For what reason?
TABOR: Moral objections to the ship's medical policy.
CHAKOTAY: I understand how difficult this is for you, but you've got to let go of the past. Focus on today and today, B'Elanna's life is in danger. Everything else should be put aside.
TABOR: You don't have the right to violate the memory of my family. As long as that Cardassian hologram is online that's exactly what you're doing.
CHAKOTAY: It's not that simple.
TABOR: It is to me. Crell Moset killed thousands of people in his hospitals. As long as we're willing to benefit from his research, we're no better than he is.
...
(Moset is humming opera.)
MOSET: Doc, how's our patient?
EMH: Recuperating.
MOSET: We did it.
EMH: Yes, we did.
MOSET: A celebration is in order. How about listening to that opera you promised me? Oh, you're er, still wrestling with your ethical subroutines. Take my advice. It's a waste of time. What's important is that we saved two lives today.
EMH: I'm not concerned with today. It's tomorrow I'm worried about. Captain Janeway has left your future in my hands. She believes that, as Voyager's Chief Medical Officer, it's up to me to decide whether your programme remains in our database.
MOSET: Personally, I predict a long and fruitful collaboration between us.
EMH: Oh?
MOSET: Think about what we accomplished in the last twenty four hours. Our first case was a triumph. Both patients are thriving, and we advanced the frontiers of medical science. I've already outlined a paper that you and I will one day present to the Federation Medical Academy. Total Systemic Invasion of a Klingon-Human Hybrid by a Cytoplasmic Pseudoparasite. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
EMH: Are we also going to tell them where you honed your surgical techniques? A footnote, perhaps. For further details, see Cardassian death camps.
MOSET: Those techniques were crucial this morning. Where was your sarcasm then?
EMH: I didn't come here to debate the issue with you, Crell. I came here to inform you of my decision. It is my judgment that the Medical Consultant Programme and all the algorithms contained therein shall be deleted from the database. In light of recent evidence I cannot in good conscience utilise research that was derived from such inhuman practices.
MOSET: In good conscience? What about the well-being of your crew? You're confronted by new forms of life every day, many of them dangerous. You need me. Delete my programme and you violate the first oath you took as a physician. Do no harm.
EMH: Do no harm. You have no right to say those words. Computer.
MOSET: You can erase my programme, Doctor, but you can never change the fact that you've already used some of my research. Where was your conscience when B'Elanna was dying on that table? Ethics? Morality? Conscience? Funny how they all go out the airlock when we need something. Are you and I really so different?
EMH: Computer, delete Medical Consultant Programme and all related files.

DS9 "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang" - creating a jack in the box that threatens to erases the program

BASHIR: I just talked to Felix. I know what's been affecting Vic's programme. It's a jack in the box.
NOG: A what?
O'BRIEN: A jack in the box. It's a children's toy on Earth. You wind it up and a figure jumps out and goes Boo!
BASHIR: Except this type of jack in the box is different.
NOG: It doesn't go Boo?
BASHIR: No, this surprise is buried deep in the holosuite programme.
O'BRIEN: It's meant to shake things up, you know? Make things interesting.
NOG: I wasn't bored. Were you?
KIRA: Not at all. I liked Vic's the way it was.
BASHIR: According to Felix, if we get rid of Frankie Eyes, everything resets back to the way it was.
KIRA: That's good to know.
NOG: So how do we get rid of Frankie Eyes?
BASHIR: That's up to us. But Felix did warn me the programme is period specific.
O'BRIEN: In other words, if we shoot him, we have to use a forty five automatic and not a phaser.
BASHIR: We can't shoot Frankie, it's too dangerous.
O'BRIEN: The mob could retaliate against Vic.
BASHIR: If anything happens to Vic, his matrix will be eliminated from the programme. Permanently.

Voyager "Worst Case Scenario" - rights of the original authors of holonovels

TUVOK: I believe our first step should be to create a carefully constructed outline of the remaining chapters.
PARIS: I told you, Tuvok. I'm just making it up as I go.
TUVOK: We cannot proceed without a carefully constructed outline.
PARIS: There you go with that we stuff again. I don't remember agreeing to let you help me.
TUVOK: Need I remind you that it was I who first began the scenario?
PARIS: And you think I'm compromising your creative vision?
TUVOK: In so many words, yes. And it is my duty to ensure that ship security is not compromised by your creative vision.
PARIS: You had your chance to finish the story, and you wanted to delete it.
TUVOK: True, but since that is no longer an option, I am now exercising my prerogative as the original author.
PARIS: Look, Tuvok, for the last time, I don't need any help.
...
PARIS: Thanks, Tuvok. Now that I think about it, I'll take it from here.
TUVOK: You may find that difficult, since I am the only one who can make additions to the programme.
PARIS: All right, Tuvok. You win. We'll finish the story together.
TUVOK: That is a very rational decision, Mister Paris. Computer, reinitiate the holographic programme entitled Insurrection Alpha, security clearance Tuvok four seven seven four.
COMPUTER: The programme has been reinitiated.
PARIS: The first thing we're going to change is that title.
TUVOK: Reformat the holo-matrix for the addition of new interactive algorithms.
COMPUTER: The holo-matrix has been formatted.
TUVOK: Reopen the narrative parameters file.

Voyager "Spirit Folk" - rights of holodeck characters once they achieve sentience

SEAMUS: But they turned Maggie into a cow.
PARIS: That'll never happen again, I swear.
MICHAEL: There, you see? We have his word, and if we can't trust a man's word in Fair Haven, what can we trust?
JANEWAY: If you want, we'll leave and never bother you again. But we'd prefer to find some way to keep our friendship alive.
(Janeway takes the mobile emitter from Michael and puts it on the EMH's arm. He comes out of his trance.)
EMH: Captain?
MICHAEL: I, for one, would like to keep playing rings with Harry and Tom, keep having Neelix's steamed cabbage at the Ox and Lamb, keep taking walks with Katie. Let's not turn our backs on these good people. If we do, we're only punishing ourselves. Just because we're from different worlds doesn't mean we can't care for each other.

[Engineering]

TORRES: If we're going to retain the programme, we can't keep running it around the clock.
PARIS: Not until we've repaired these damaged systems.
TORRES: Not ever. We've pushed the limits of holotechnology and they pushed back. If we try it again, we're just asking for trouble.
JANEWAY: I'm afraid we're going to have to close your open door policy.
PARIS: Yes, ma'am.
TORRES: What about the characters. Should I purge their memories of the last few days?
JANEWAY: No, leave them.
EMH: They think we're spacemen from the future. It won't exactly be like old times.
JANEWAY: We learn to accept alien species with new technologies. Let's hope the people of Fair Haven will learn to accept us. But before we shut down the programme and begin repairs, what do you say to one more round at Sullivan's? My treat.

TNG "Galaxy's Child" - creating Leah as a holodeck character without her permission

LAFORGE: She went where?
PAVLIK: Holodeck three, sir. I didn't think there was anything wrong with her seeing the file.
LAFORGE: Of course not. Nothing at all.

[Holodeck - Utopia Planitia Drafting room]

HOLO LEAH: I'm with you every day, Geordi. Every time you look at this engine, you're looking at me. Every time you touch it, it's me.
(Geordi runs in, too late)
LAFORGE: Computer, freeze programme.
LEAH: Now I understand.
LAFORGE: No, you don't. It's not the way this may look.
LEAH: I called up a replay of the programme file. I was all ready to compliment you again, Commander, for constructing a programme which contained the prototype engine so that you would always have a baseline reference for your modifications. And now I find that it's all about a fantasy plaything.
LAFORGE: It's not like that, I swear.
LEAH: I'm outraged by this. I have been invaded. Violated. How dare you use me like this? How far did it go, anyway? Was it good for you?
LAFORGE: Nothing like that happened. It was a professional collaboration.
LEAH: Oh, I can tell. Every time you're touching the engine you're touching me. Real professional.
LAFORGE: Look, if you watched the whole programme, you saw what it was. We were working together to solve a problem in a crisis situation.
LEAH: How do I know how far it went? How many other programs did you create? Perhaps dozens of them, one for every day of the week, one for every mood.
LAFORGE: All right, look. Ever since you came on board, you've been badgering me and I've taken it. I've shown you courtesy, and respect, and a hell of a lot of patience. Oh, no, no, no, wait a minute. I've tried to understand you. I've tried to get along with you. And in return, you've accused, tried and convicted me without bothering to hear my side of it. So, I'm guilty, okay? But not of what you think. Of something much worse. I'm guilty of reaching out to you, of hoping we could connect. I'm guilty of a terrible crime, Doctor. I offered you friendship.

 

[marsh8472]

Voyager "Latent Image" - whether sentient holodeck characters be repaired against their will

(Janeway is reading a book whilst music plays quietly. The doorbell chimes.)
JANEWAY: Come in. Are you having a little trouble regenerating?
SEVEN: My alcove is functioning properly. I am having trouble with the nature of individuality.
JANEWAY: There's a time and a place for philosophical discussion. Two in the morning in my quarters isn't one of them. But I'll tell you what. Meet me in the mess hall tomorrow.
SEVEN: Tomorrow will be too late. We'll have already rewritten the Doctor's programme by then.
JANEWAY: And violated his rights as an individual.
SEVEN: Precisely.
JANEWAY: If you've come to act as my conscience, you're a little late. I considered these issues eighteen months ago, as I did again this morning. I came to the same conclusion.
SEVEN: Your conclusion is wrong.
JANEWAY: Coffee, black. (she takes a sip.) Lukewarm. Now I've told that replicator a dozen times about the temperature of my coffee. It just doesn't seem to want to listen. Almost as if it's got a mind of its own. But it doesn't. A replicator operates through a series of electronic pathways that allow it to receive instructions and take appropriate action, and there you go. A cup of coffee, a bowl of soup, a plasma conduit, whatever we tell it to do. As difficult as it is to accept, the Doctor is more like that replicator than he is like us.
SEVEN: He would disagree.
JANEWAY: I'm sure he would, but I can't let that change my decision. I learned that the hard way when his programme almost self-destructed. I won't take that risk again.
SEVEN: The risk isn't yours to take.
JANEWAY: If one of my crew chose to put a phaser to his own head, should I let him?
SEVEN: It would depend on the situation.
JANEWAY: It always depends on the situation, Seven, but we can debate philosophy another time.
SEVEN: When you separated me from the Collective, I was an unknown risk to your crew, yet you kept me on board. You allowed me to evolve into an individual.
JANEWAY: You're a human being. He's a hologram.
SEVEN: And you allowed that hologram to evolve as well, to exceed his original programming. And yet now you choose to abandon him.
JANEWAY: Objection noted. Good night.
SEVEN: It is unsettling. You say that I am a human being and yet I am also Borg. Part of me not unlike your replicator. Not unlike the Doctor. Will you one day choose to abandon me as well? I have always looked to you as my example, my guide to humanity. Perhaps I've been mistaken. Good night.


[Medical lab]

(The EMH comes out of his office to meet Torres and Janeway.)
JANEWAY: I'd like to think I made my decision eighteen months ago for all the right reasons. The truth is, my own biases about what you are had just as much to do with it. At the very least, you deserve to know exactly what happened. If you're willing.
EMH: I'm ready.
(They do the procedure in the Computer Control room.)

TNG "Homeworld" - secretly transporting a colony onto the holodeck that resembles their planet in an effort to transport them to another planet

PICARD: What do you expect us to do now? You have left us with a colony of Boraalans who think they're still on their planet.
NIKOLAI: I didn't beam them up without a plan. I've given this a lot of thought. I think we can find a new planet, an M class world, that can be their new home.
PICARD: A home which would look very different from Boraal. You can't really believe that they'll be fooled.
NIKOLAI: That's where the holodeck comes in. I'll go back and tell the Boraalans we're going on a journey, to a different place where they'll be safe from the storms. The holodeck can gradually change the terrain as we travel, so that at the end, the holodeck simulation will match the conditions on the new planet. Then we'll simply beam them down.
PICARD: What if it doesn't work? What if they become aware that something strange is going on?
NIKOLAI: Captain, I can't prepare for every contingency, but I assure you I'm accustomed to thinking on my feet. I'll deal with the situation as it evolves.
PICARD: I'm not enthusiastic about this plan, but I don't see that we have another option. Very well, let's give it a try.
NIKOLAI: Thank you, Captain.

Voyager "Author, Author" - rights of holograms that make their own holonovels, making stories that defame other people that they resemble, legality of programs that contain classified information

EMH: How many times do you want me to say it? My work is not about the Voyager crew.
KIM: Come on. Ensign Kymble? Lieutenant Marseilles?
TORRES: The characters look almost exactly like us.
EMH: I used your physical parameters as a starting point, but I assure you any further similarities are purely coincidental.
PARIS: You set your story on a starship lost in the Delta Quadrant.
EMH: What would you have me write about? Palace intrigue on the Klingon homeworld? I do what all good novelists do. I write what I know.
KIM: So it is about Voyager.
EMH: No! The Vortex characters are larger than life. They're nothing like our crew. As far as I know, Captain, you haven't executed any of my patients.
JANEWAY: Doctor, you've written a very imaginative story, but it's conceivable that people will think it's based on fact.
EMH: I don't see how.
KIM: How many holograms carry mobile emitters?
EMH: The emitter in my story is nothing like the real one.
TORRES: Yeah, what was the point of that? It was like carrying around a small shuttlecraft.
EMH: It's a metaphor. A symbol of the burdens that I live with every day. Imagine having to take this everywhere you go. It would be a constant reminder that you're different from everyone else. I wanted the player to feel the weight of it. Literally.
JANEWAY: Your emitter isn't a ball and chain. It liberates you.
EMH: It doesn't always feel that way.
JANEWAY: If I didn't know better, I'd think this story was written by someone who feels oppressed. Is that how you see yourself, Doctor?
EMH: Of course not. The real victims are my brothers in the Alpha Quadrant.
TORRES: Brothers?
EMH: Hundreds of EMH mark ones. Identical to me in every respect except, they've been condemned to a menial existence. Scrubbing conduits, mining dilithium. There's a long history of writers drawing attention to the plight of the oppressed. The Vedek's Song, for example tells the story of the occupation of Bajor.
JANEWAY: I understand you have your reasons for writing this, but you should consider how it's going to make your friends feel.
EMH: I'm sorry my work offends you. But if the price of expressing myself is having to suffer the scorn of a few colleagues, so be it.
...
TUVOK: Under a strict interpretation of Federation law, Mister Broht is correct. The Doctor has no legal rights.
EMH: Because I'm a hologram.
TUVOK: Yes. There is another option. We may be able to claim that the holonovel reveals classified information. Starfleet could then request that it be recalled for security purposes.
PARIS: Oh, great idea. A cover up. And then everyone will be convinced that it's a true story.
CHAKOTAY: Could we claim defamation?
PARIS: Well, we'd have to prove that the story's about us and that we've been harmed by it.
JANEWAY: We might win on those grounds. But what about the Doctor?
EMH: What about me, Captain? It's the crew's reputations that are as risk.
JANEWAY: I'm not so sure. I think it's your reputation that's on the line here. You have the same rights as every other member of this crew, and I'm not going to let this publisher say otherwise.
...
ARBITRATOR: We're exploring new territory today, so it is fitting that this hearing is being held at Pathfinder. The Doctor exhibits many of the traits we associate with a person. Intelligence, creativity, ambition, even fallibility. But are these traits real, or is the Doctor merely programmed to simulate them? To be honest, I don't know. Eventually we will have to decide, because the issue of holographic rights isn't going to go away. But at this time, I am not prepared to rule that the Doctor is a person under the law. However, it is obvious he is no ordinary hologram and while I can't say with certainty that he is a person, I am willing to extend the legal definition of artist to include the Doctor. I therefore rule that he has the right to control his work. I'm ordering all copies of his holo-novels to be recalled immediately.

Voyager "Flesh and Blood" - legal limits of modifying sentient holograms

EMH: I understand your concerns, but these holograms are nothing like the Hirogen.
DONIK: That's not true. They were programmed to be as vicious as any hunter.
EMH: They were also given the ability to adapt. They've changed, moved beyond their programming. If you could see how they've been brutalised, you'd understand that they've only been acting in self-defence.
JANEWAY: I'm sorry, Doctor but I'm inclined to agree with Mister Donik.
EMH: Then you've chosen the wrong side.
JANEWAY: I haven't chosen any side.
EMH: You're right that it was a mistake to give the Hirogen technology and that mistake has had consequences. These holograms are one of them. In some ways they're a new species, one that you helped create. You can't turn your back on them.
TORRES: He's got a point.
TUVOK: Could we restore them to their original parameters?
EMH: We'd be wiping out their memories, their experiences, everything they are.
CHAKOTAY: Couldn't we just extract their violent subroutines?
TORRES: It's possible.
EMH: That would be like de-clawing a cat. We'd be taking away any chance they have of defending themselves.
JANEWAY: We'd also be preventing them from doing any more harm.
EMH: You wouldn't even be considering this if they were flesh and blood.
JANEWAY: I'm not going to let you turn this into an argument about holographic rights.
EMH: Why not? That's exactly what it is.

TNG "Ship in a Bottle" - a hologram trapping other crewmembers on the holodeck making them think they're no longer in the holodeck

DATA: Captain, I have determined how Moriarty was able to leave the holodeck. He never did. Neither did we. None of this is real. It is a simulation. We are still on the holodeck.
LAFORGE: We're still on the holodeck?
PICARD: How do you know that?
DATA: Through deduction, sir. Lieutenant Barclay and I tried to transport a simulated object off the holodeck, something that has never been attempted. Since the transporter itself is a simulation, the computer had no real data from which to create the transport logs.
LAFORGE: Maybe it was just a malfunction in the transporter.
DATA: Then I saw you working the PADD with your left hand. Commander La Forge is right handed, sir. A similar malfunction occurred in the Sherlock Holmes programme I was running before Moriarty first appeared.
PICARD: Mister Data, if what you say is true, then this is not Geordi La Forge. Are you certain?
(Data throws his comm., badge towards the warp core. The grid appears for a moment)
PICARD: Computer, discontinue programme. Computer, exit.
DATA: Moriarty appears to have programmed the holodeck to accept only his commands.

DS9 "Inquisitition" - locking Bashir in a holodeck to obtain information from him

SISKO: Get him off my bridge.
KIRA: Let's go, Doctor.
BASHIR: Jadzia, you believe me, don't you?
DAX: Why did you do it, Julian?
BASHIR: Miles? You?
(Bashir puts his hand on O'Brien's shoulder. O'Brien pushes it away vigorously.)
BASHIR: Your shoulder. It's all right.
O'BRIEN: Of course it's all right.
BASHIR: But you dislocated it yesterday when (pause) we were playing springball.
O'BRIEN: So? It's better now.
BASHIR: You didn't hurt it playing springball. You dislocated it kayaking in a holosuite. You're not Miles. And you're not Captain Sisko. He'd at least be willing to hear me out. This isn't real. It can't be.
(The Bridge fizzes out to become)

[Holodeck]


(Sloan is in black leather, not a Starfleet uniform.)
SLOAN: You're right, Doctor. None of it was real. But I am. And this isn't over. Congratulations, Doctor. It's not often that we're proven wrong.

Voyager "Extreme Risk" - privacy rights, legality authority to search logs, revoking and restoring holodeck privileges

PARIS: Engines are operating at close to ninety percent efficiency, Seven's got her new weapons system online. And if we can just solve that microfracture problem, we'll be ready to go.
JANEWAY: Keep on it. Now, let's talk about B'Elanna. Tom, you had no idea about these injuries or how she got them?
PARIS: She never complained about being hurt, but then again she's barely speaking to me lately.
JANEWAY: It's almost as if she's been intentionally trying to hurt herself.
CHAKOTAY: You think all these injuries have been happening on the holodeck?
JANEWAY: Well, where else? If they'd happened while she was working, as she claims, somebody would've filed an injury report.
CHAKOTAY: Any idea what sort of programmes she's been running?
JANEWAY: Are you thinking the same thing I am?
CHAKOTAY: I hate to go digging around in someone's personal holodeck programmes, but if she won't tell us what's going on I don't think we have much choice.
JANEWAY: Tom, what do you think?
PARIS: He's right.
JANEWAY: Start digging.


[Torres' quarters]

(The doorbell chimes repeatedly.)
TORRES: I'm sleeping!
(Chakotay enters.)
TORRES: Oh.
CHAKOTAY: Hi.
TORRES: Hi. I, I thought you were the Doctor making a house call.
CHAKOTAY: He let you out of the cell block, huh?
TORRES: He thinks familiar surroundings will help speed my recovery.
CHAKOTAY: Recovery from what?
TORRES: That's what I said. He thinks I'm suffering from clinical depression.
CHAKOTAY: Are you depressed?
TORRES: What are you, the new ship's counsellor?
CHAKOTAY: No. Just a friend.
TORRES: This whole thing is so ridiculous. I don't report a few scrapes and suddenly Janeway thinks there's something wrong with me. Typical Starfleet, huh?
CHAKOTAY: You have been running holodeck programmes without safety protocols.
TORRES: A few, but I haven't put anybody else at risk, and it's nothing that I can't handle.
CHAKOTAY: Tell you what. What do you say you and I pay a little visit to the holodeck? You can show me some of the programmes you've been running.
TORRES: Right now?
CHAKOTAY: Sure. Maybe if I see what you've been up to, I can convince the Captain there's nothing to worry about.
TORRES: She's taken away my holodeck privileges.
CHAKOTAY: Consider them restored.

Voyager "Drive" - holodeck time allocation

EMH: I've been looking forward to my holodeck time all week. Why can't you borrow three hours from someone else?
TORRES: Yours are the last piece to the puzzle. Tom and I have finally managed to get a weekend off together. I've been trading favours with members so that we could get the holodeck to ourselves.
EMH: A romantic getaway.
TORRES: Well, that's the idea, yes.
EMH: Well, ordinarily I wouldn't hesitate to oblige but I've been looking forward to indulging myself in a new hobby. Something human doctors have been enjoying for centuries.
(He picks up a golf club and ball.)
EMH: I've already booked a tee time.
TORRES: Well, if your tee time is more important than our happiness. Our first chance to be alone in months.
EMH: Fine. Take my three hours.
TORRES: Thank you.

Voyager "Night" - penalties for going into someone's scheduled holodeck time and damaging holodeck equipment

EMH: I have no interest in your frivolous fantasy. I'm here to rehearse a duet from Don Carlo and you've already gone three minutes into my scheduled
CHAOTICA: Enough! Robot, attack!
(The girl screams again. The Robot is a far cry from Robbie.)
CHAOTICA: Destroy them. Start with him.
EMH: Computer, freeze programme.
PARIS: Doc, this is the final chapter. Satan's Robot Conquers the World. We can't stop now.
EMH: Does the phrase to be continued mean anything to you?
PARIS: Your opera can wait.
EMH: This programme is a waste of photonic energy.
PARIS: Oh, really. Take a look around you. This is how the twentieth century saw the future. We are studying sociology.
EMH: Perhaps you can teach a course at Starfleet Academy. Satan's Robot - an Historical Overview.
(Paris and the EMH squabble over the holodeck controls until they start to burn.)

[Bridge]

CHAKOTAY: Bridge to holodeck one. What's going on down there?
KIM [OC]: Oh, nothing, Commander. Just a little power surge.

Voyager "Pathfinder" - using the holodeck to evade capture

HARKINS: Step away from the controls.
BARCLAY: Pete. I, I've sent a message.
HARKINS: Stand down, Mister Barclay.
BARCLAY: All right, you win. Computer, transfer controls to hologrid programme Barclay pi three and restrict access.
HARKINS: Stop him. Stun him if you have to.
[Holodeck - Voyager Corridor]


(Barclay diverts the two security men through an opening and closing holodeck door.)
BARCLAY: Tuvok. Did you see those two men?
TUVOK: I did not.
BARCLAY: Well they look like Starfleet security, but they're not.
TUVOK: Intruders?
BARCLAY: They're after me. I need your help.
TUVOK: Tuvok to all hands. Intruder alert. Computer, locate any unauthorised personnel aboard Voyager.
COMPUTER: Two unidentified humans, deck four, section eight.
TUVOK: Isolate them with force fields.

TNG "Unification Part 2" - creating a false image of Spock to deceive people

SPOCK: Since it is logical to conclude that you will kill us in any event, I choose not to cooperate.
SELA: I hate Vulcans. I hate the logic. I hate the arrogance. Very well. Computer, holographic programme Spock One. By taking advantage of holographic sampling during the last several days, we have created a programmable Spock. Run programme!
HOLO-SPOCK: This is Ambassador Spock of Vulcan. By now, Federation sensors are tracking three Vulcan ships crossing the Neutral Zone. These ships carry the future of the Romulan and Vulcan people. Our long conflict is finally over.
SELA: Freeze. We would have preferred an interactive Spock who could have responded to questions, but this will have to suffice.
PICARD: You can hardly believe this will convince anyone.
SELA: I don't need to convince them. Just confuse them long enough to reach Vulcan. End programme. If you'll excuse me, it's time to send our ships on their journey.

 

[The Wormhole]

So is there an actual discussion going on here, or are we just posting episode quotes?

 

[marsh8472]

There's a lot to tackle, I wasn't sure where to begin. In this day and age we're still trying to get a grip on laws against software. Should someone be allowed to create anything they want or should they be require the permission of the person they are copying? I was just watching the babylon 5 movie called "The River of Souls". In that movie they were allowed to make holograms of anyone they want as long as they don't make it public, private use only.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

should they be require the permission of the person they are copying?

Yes, they should. It's basic privacy rights.

 

[marsh8472]

On one side of it someone can fantasize however they want but on the other hand some people may want their image forbidden and illegal to use in a holodeck or at least require compensation if they do.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And besides, it's just common courtesy. If you simulate someone, they have the right to know.

 

[marsh8472]

And besides, it's just common courtesy. If you simulate someone, they have the right to know.

What if they want to simulate them to bang them like what Barclay and 7 of 9 did? Or that holodeck program Tuvok created to handle his anger issues in episode "Meld" by strangling and killing Neelix?

 

[Jetboogieman]

What if they want to simulate them to bang them like what Barclay and 7 of 9 did? Or that holodeck program Tuvok created to handle his anger issues in episode "Meld" by strangling and killing Neelix?

Well the real issue with the Holodeck is the very idea of the Holodeck itself, it would destroy society.

Like really, if you could simulate an orgy on top of the Eiffel Tower with 10 Orion Slave girls, pretty much everyone would be doing that, constantly.

 

[Devilpogostick]

Yeah...Knowing this, the holodeck seems like a disastrous idea waiting to happen if ever existed in the real world. I mean sure, you got your standard programs with limits with the issue being if you'll ever actually leave back to the real world.

But there are so many ways you can really mess around while breaking some sort of ethical standard along the way. Can you imagine finding out a co-worker has been simulating a scenario where he/she beats you up in a consistent basis (or worse) and when confronted they'll claim it's just a game as a defense? I mean okay...But I would probably back the Hell away upon learning that.

 

[marsh8472]

Yeah...Knowing this, the holodeck seems like a disastrous idea waiting to happen if ever existed in the real world. I mean sure, you got your standard programs with limits with the issue being if you'll ever actually leave back to the real world.

But there are so many ways you can really mess around while breaking some sort of ethical standard along the way. Can you imagine finding out a co-worker has been simulating a scenario where he/she beats you up in a consistent basis (or worse) and when confronted they'll claim it's just a game as a defense? I mean okay...But I would probably back the Hell away upon learning that.

Yeah like criminalizing a program for pedophiles. They should try to make laws for that but how could they prevent it?

 

[Devilpogostick]

Yeah like criminalizing a program for pedophiles. They should try to make laws for that but how could they prevent it?

Pretty much, as while privacy is one thing, the right to know just what's going on is another if its taking things too far.

 

[marsh8472]

I would think they would want to prevent the events of episode "Elementry Dear Data" where they instruct the computer to create a villain with the capacity of defeating data thus creating a sentient lifeform.

I suspect they can't just create a computer to detect whether the program running has the potential of being sentient. In computing there are types of decision problems called undecidable that are proven to not be solvable with a computer algorithm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_undecidable_problems A decision program to check in advance whether a program can become sentient or not is likely to fall into the category of undecidable. If it is impossible to stop a program from being created that can evolve into sentience, what should be done with programs that become sentient?

 

[The Wormhole]

what should be done with programs that become sentient?

Apparently sticking them in a computer box where they think they're flying a shuttle around the galaxy is okay, as Picard had no moral objections to that solution with Moriarty. Or just leaving the program in storage for four years works fine too, apparently.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

What if they want to simulate them to bang them like what Barclay and 7 of 9 did? Or that holodeck program Tuvok created to handle his anger issues in episode "Meld" by strangling and killing Neelix?

It doesn't matter why. When somebody wants to simulate you on the holodeck, you have the right to know.

I mean, shit, wouldn't YOU want to know if somebody is simulating you? For whatever reason? Because if they have that attitude towards a holographic you, who's to say what they want to do to the REAL you?

 

[marsh8472]

It doesn't matter why. When somebody wants to simulate you on the holodeck, you have the right to know.

I mean, shit, wouldn't YOU want to know if somebody is simulating you? For whatever reason? Because if they have that attitude towards a holographic you, who's to say what they want to do to the REAL you?

The way it works today without holodecks is people daydream about bashing someone's head in or banging someone. People may be curious about who daydreams about them but that doesn't entitle them to know who is doing the daydreaming. Often times they would rather not know too.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The way it works today without holodecks is people daydream about bashing someone's head in or banging someone. People may be curious about who daydreams about them but that doesn't entitle them to know who is doing the daydreaming. Often times they would rather not know too.

You can't tell what someone is daydreaming about. Holodeck use CAN be monitored.

And there's a difference between just thinking about doing something, and actually doing it (holographic or not).

 

[marsh8472]

You can't tell what someone is daydreaming about. Holodeck use CAN be monitored.

And there's a difference between just thinking about doing something, and actually doing it (holographic or not).

Yea but just because something can be monitored does not mean it should be. There's a privacy rights issue there. If someone does something on the holodeck, are they really doing it? Like does killing a hologram on the holodeck make someone a murderer?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There's a privacy rights issue there

Exactly my point. Why is the privacy of whoever is USING the holodeck, more important than the privacy of whoever is BEING USED?

If someone does something on the holodeck, are they really doing it? Like does killing a hologram on the holodeck make someone a murderer?

Not a murderer as such, no. But if the hologram in question is a simulation of a real person, then that person still has the right to know. Because then maybe the user of the program wants to kill them for real. Otherwise, why would they be simulating it?

 

[marsh8472]

Exactly my point. Why is the privacy of whoever is USING the holodeck, more important than the privacy of whoever is BEING USED?



Not a murderer as such, no. But if the hologram in question is a simulation of a real person, then that person still has the right to know. Because then maybe the user of the program wants to kill them for real. Otherwise, why would they be simulating it?

If it's totally for private use, what they don't know won't hurt them like in TNG episode "Galaxy's Child" but if it's something for public use then I'd say they should know and need consent like with Voyager episode "Author, Author". Because one purpose of a holodeck is to play out a fantasy which making that publicly available would defeat the purpose. Also how the holoimage is obtained should play a role too. That's how it works today. Anything publicly available is not an invasion of privacy. But if the holoimage were obtained without consent in private or by breaking into a system then there would be a privacy rights violation there.

The copy of Leah created in episode "Bobby Trap" was not precisely her

COMPUTER: Affirmative. You asked Doctor Brahms to show you which system could accept reactants at a faster rate. By accessing available imagery, an adequate facsimile was possible.

...

LAFORGE: Yes! All right! Computer, do you have any, you know, personality on file for Doctor Brahms?
COMPUTER: Starfleet personality profile analysis, stardate 40056.
LAFORGE: Did she ever debate at the intergalactic caucuses on Chaya Seven?
COMPUTER: Doctor Brahms attended Chaya Seven caucuses on the following stardates
LAFORGE: Never mind the dates. Computer, if you add data from all these sources, could you synthesise a true representation of Doctor Brahms?
COMPUTER: There would be a nine point three seven percent margin of error in the interactive responses from the facsimile.
LAFORGE: I can live with that. Do it. (Leah takes a breath, then smiles) Doctor Brahms?
LEAH: Geordi, it's me, Leah. Don't start calling me Doctor Brahms or I'll call you Commander La Forge.
LAFORGE: Right.
LEAH: Now, we've managed to maintain energy but we can't leave it in this realignment forever without burning out components, so we need to move quickly.
(Geordi's jaw is on the floor)
LEAH: Are you with me?
LAFORGE: Yeah. Yeah! Yeah!.

So it's not really Leah, just an approximation of her. Maybe there's something like a fair use doctrine that should be in place where if the simulation is general enough it's ok.