

Picard initially finds Riker's prosecution difficult to challenge.

Riker, forced to prosecute against Data to prevent a summary ruling against him (to ensure the issue is accorded due process of law), enters the same argument Maddox had made years before, where Maddox was the sole dissenting vote as to Data's petition to attend Starfleet Academy and pursue a Starfleet commission. However, as her office is understaffed at the moment, she drafts Commander Riker to represent Maddox's interests, and the position that Data is the property of Starfleet and therefore without the broad array of human rights accorded in the United Federation of Planets, and Picard to represent Data's interests, that Data is a sentient being with the choice to resign from Starfleet and to refuse to undergo Maddox's procedures. Picard requests Starfleet Judge Advocate General for the 23rd sector, Captain Philippa Louvois, to hold a hearing to determine Data's legal status. Maddox, however, points out that Data is the property of Starfleet and not a sentient being, and as such Starfleet need not permit him to resign. Captain Picard stands up for Data, and Picard learns that the only way to avoid the order is for Data to resign from Starfleet. Data, aware of the delicate nature of this procedure and to prevent damage to himself, refuses to succumb to Maddox's desires, forcing Maddox to turn to Starfleet to order that Data submit himself to "experimental refit".

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It quickly becomes clear that Maddox has an ulterior motive of storing Data's positronic brain in the Starbase mainframe computer and shutting down and disassembling the android to learn how to recreate Soong's technology (though Maddox promises to restore Data after the analysis is complete). Noonien Soong, was able to overcome certain problems in designing and constructing Data's positronic brain. While the Enterprise is docked at Starbase 173 for routine maintenance, cyberneticist Commander Bruce Maddox pays Lieutenant Commander Data a visit, wishing to better understand how Data's creator, Dr. OverviewĬommander Data must argue for his right of self-determination in order not be declared the property of Starfleet and de-constructed in the name of science.
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" The Measure of a Man" is the 35th episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. List of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes
