I did a bit of research and it seems I projected to much from non-US contexts onto the US context and while you can make affidavits without being in a court if you get a notary to witness it, it doesn’t seem to be punishable if the affidavit doesn’t go to court.
But even without that particular mechanism you likely can set up contracts that allow an organization to punish you when you lie.
It seems like Eric Ries claim about security fraud being the only real crime in the US that’s on the books is more true then initially assumed when I heard it. Lying to your investors is an enforceable crime.
Practically, you likely wouldn’t want to go to US courts anyway. You could have a website like Patreon that has one of it’s rules that it punishes it’s members for lying and then then witholds revenue from them if they lie. Contractual freedom is quite broad in the US.
Contract law could be much more workable, yes, especially if the contract specifies some private entity, not a judge, to be the arbiter of what is a lie.
But even without that particular mechanism you likely can set up contracts that allow an organization to punish you when you lie.
It seems like Eric Ries claim about security fraud being the only real crime in the US that’s on the books is more true then initially assumed when I heard it. Lying to your investors is an enforceable crime.
Practically, you likely wouldn’t want to go to US courts anyway. You could have a website like Patreon that has one of it’s rules that it punishes it’s members for lying and then then witholds revenue from them if they lie. Contractual freedom is quite broad in the US.
Contract law could be much more workable, yes, especially if the contract specifies some private entity, not a judge, to be the arbiter of what is a lie.