At 3:05 PM 4/20/96, Bruce Marshall wrote:
On Fri, 19 Apr 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:
It should be interesting to see what happens when the Bernstein ruling (assuming it is further upheld as the court case and appeals proceed) meets the proposed law making the writing of virus code a crime.
If crypto software is essentially speech, albeit in a non-traditional human language, then virus software is no different.
I think the determination of whether virus software will be considered free speech (and thus legal) or speech needing limits (illegal) will be based entirely on whether that code is active in system memory or just sitting on a hard drive.
I of course was being careful to specifically say "the proposed law making the writing of virus code a crime." I think most of us will agree that destroying someone else's data via viruses may well be a crime, depending on circumstances. However, the talk of trying to felonize the _writing_ of virus code, irrespective of whether it is ever used criminally, is what I think the Bernstein decision bears on. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."