I made a mess, how do I clean up?

[Karakhian]

I haven't tested this yet, but from the looks of it the new KWS system is a little strange. If someone scans you in a system other than the one you are Wanted in, they can see the bounty but your status will stay Clean per that system. So if they want to claim your bounty, they have to attack you and become wanted themselves. I only assume this because after scanning someone with a bounty from another system, they stay clean. So I assume if I were to attack, I would get a bounty for the current system despite enforcing justice for the other system. Although the major factions may have something to do with this.

If anyone has tested otherwise, I would love to know. And I don't mean pre 1.3 mechanics. I'm talking current gameplay.

Yes, that's exactly how it's supposed to work. Even before 1.3 - which only changed that you couldn't instantly pay bounties off.

Look at it this way - you're wanted in Nigeria for a crime you committed there. You flee to the Philippines. There, you haven't committed any crimes. You're Clean in the Philippines, Wanted in Nigeria.

Some bounty hunter comes looking for someone who committed a crime in Nigeria and tracks you down to the Philippines. He establishes he has the right person when he finds you. Now if he attacks you to try to claim the Nigerian bounty, he's committing a crime in the Philippines as long as you stay there. Which means he'll end up Wanted in the Philippines, with his own 7 day bounty.

Anyway, you get the idea. There is no overriding 'galactic authority' who issues bounties. It is individual and independent jurisdictions who issue bounties for crimes committed on their turf. Bounty hunters try to collect on them, and risk becoming criminals in some other jurisdiction themselves - of course a clever bounty hunter might wait until a target is dumb enough to come back to space where they're Wanted, so they can legally attack.

 

[Iskariot]

Currently I'm in a Clipper optimised for cargo to do powerplay deliveries. After dropping off one of those deliveries, for a change I thought I'd fly to Lembava to drop off some more records for the community goal. I didn't want to fly back and change ship so just went on in the Clipper. Note the Clipper is a large ship so limits landing possibilities, but I do have a small fuel scoop in case of emergencies.

This went smoothly until Lembava itself. I got interdicted, and out of habit, I submitted, turned around and made the annoyance disappear. This was stupid. I'm in a hostile power territory, and the station I needed to visit now shows me as wanted. So I had no legal right to fight back, and on destruction I've now got a galaxy wide bounty on me. Suffice to say I thought trying landing there wasn't going to end well and got out of the system and out of hostile territory. Even that wasn't simple as I timed my jumps so I was practically out of fuel by the time I got to Lembava, and had just enough left to economic jump my way to a safe scoopable star.

Since I've played nice I've never had to worry about the bounty system before and don't really understand it. Looking at my transaction panel, I have a bounty issued by Lembava Commodities and best part of a 7 day timer counting down. In my Finance tab it says I have a galaxy-wide bounty. This is the bit I don't understand. Who can now legally shoot me down due to the bounty? Presumably Lembava commodities aligned ships can, as can anyone with a KWS. Am I shown as "wanted" for those without KWS?

I'm going to take a short break but my plan is to return to my own faction space and resume normal powerplay activities, if everyone doesn't want to kill me along the way.

A galaxy wide bounty is not that big of a problem as it seems.
Authority in other systems in general won't see it and won't attack you. They are only interested in local bounties it seems.
Only bounty hunters are a threat, but they themselves will get a bounty on their head if they attack you in a system where you are not wanted.
Let them hit you first. You can then proceed to destroy them.

I have a galaxy wide bounty on my head in Archon Delayne territory, It is 1,3 mil in one of his control systems.
The bounty does not show in other systems, even if they are Archon Delayne's.
So the 'galaxy wide' label is a bit of a misnomer as far as I am concerned.

You can pay off the bounty after a week when it has become a legacy fine, but you will have to return to the system you got it in.
If you plan to do that you should write the name down, because currently you can not find info about your legacy fines in game.