-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 As I'm sure you know, CNN is probably safe in any case, reality being what it is. The fine line that DOJ recommended on the Feinstein Amendment is based mainly on intent. I don't have the report in front of me, but I think DOJ recognized that widespread publication makes it harder to prove a nasty intent. Suppose CNN got the McVeigh transcripts, scanned them in, and put them up on the Web. It's pretty newsworthy. Hard to see how there could be a prosecution given the First Amendment, even if the Feinstein Amendment became law. Indeed, I would assume that the information would propagate to other sites as well, including outside the United States. At that point prosecution seems even more difficult. IMHO, proving intent is to some extent a function of how "public" information is. If information is publicly available but not very well known, or perhaps more important, its being publicly available is not very well known - then it is easier to convince a jury that knowing it implies badness (unless you have a good, usually institution based, reason for knowing it). It would be an interesting piece of sociology of speech, law and technology to do a serious, scholarly study of the public availability of existing bombmaking information on the Web. Where does it come from? How much was originally government information? How accurate is it? What kind of bombs can be built with the info? Who puts it up? Then compare what's on the Web to what's in university and public libraries. This is the kind of study that may not be doable once the Amendment passes, for obvious reasons. Lee At 8:32 PM -0700 6/22/97, Tim May wrote:
The latest crime for which Senator Diane Swinestein has earned the [CENSORED] is her "bomb-making instructions on the Internet are illegal" bill.
But I have a question. Does this mean CNN will face prosecution if it publishes the transcripts of the McVeigh case?
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