On Wed, 13 Mar 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:
(And then they'll have to return the computer as stolen property and tell what they know about who sold it to them. Sounds fair to me.)
Really? In Sweden, if you buy stolen property from a thief or fence 'in good faith', not knowing that it was stolen (usally arguable in court only if the price was substantially below market value) you can keep it. The original owner, or his insurance company, can buy it back only if you let them. It's up to the others to prove that you didn't act 'in good faith' - if it can be proved that you did not, you are likely to be prosecuted for fencing, of course (if the state doesn't drop the case for lack of manpower, which often occurs with 'minor' crimes). I can think of another application for computers (or modems) signalling their presence with regular intervals. Manufacturers can keep track of their use, life-length etc. Using some kind of Chaumian blind signatures (like those implemented in anonymous toll systems) this could be done without revealing the geographical location of a specific computer, I guess - the manufacturers presumably wouln't care if the hardware was stolen or not. Asgaard