Tim May <tcmay@got.net> said...
=snip=
In Feinstein's view, ``This whole information thing is moving so fast that one has to be sure that kids are protected,'' she said. ``I'm concerned when kids blow themselves up by building bombs (they learned to make) by reading things in the encyclopedia. There is a philosophy that anything goes. This is why I support the repeal of the First Amendment and prison terms for thought criminals."
She's a buffoon who is probably the first one who'll be sent to the wall if there's ever a Second American Revolution.
As for her concern about Social Security numbers being posted online, did it ever occur to her and her ilk that perhaps the problem is the widespread use of SS numbers by increasing numbers of government agencies, by requirements that banks use them, by requirements that motor vehicle departments use them, and so on?
"Duh."
The solution is not a new set of laws to felonize information like this, but the elimination of the SS number as a universal identifier. Far too late for that, of course, but Fineswine's laws won't help anybody. In fact, law enforcement will continue its abuse of SS numbers, its role in falsifying records and official documents, and so on.
Along similar lines, the state of texas recently (last year) made it illegal to post information such as drivers license numbers and whatnot on the net. The company that was doing so promptly moved its web server from dallas to antigua. Gee, seems like they had an effective law eh? The problem is, the company was getting the information from the state in the first place. Anyone with a bit of cash can buy the entire drivers license database from the state of texas on CD-rom. Rather than criminalizing private actions, it would have been much better for the state to just =stop selling the information=! The databases already held would quickly become stale, and the problem would pretty much go away. The state sees such things as revenue streams they are intitled to. Even though citizen-units cannot opt out of the database, they will sell it to anyone who has the $$$ they are asking for it. This is a great example of exactly how much respect a government agency has for your privacy. For instance, here is the information contained on George Bush's drivers license... Name: BUSH,GEORGE HERBERT License number: 000173204 Address: 9 S West Oak Dr Date of birth: 6/12/24 City/Zip code:> HOUSTON 77056-2121 Gender: MaleRace: White Height: 6.01 Weight: 190 pounds Eye color: Gray Hair: Brown Last transaction date: 3/30/93 Last transaction: Renewal
Let's try to be sure DiFi is in D.C. when Abu Nidal makes his move.
Let's hope it takes place during a state of the union speech. ---------------End of Original Message----------------- ------------------------ Name: amp E-mail: amp@pobox.com Date: 02/21/98 Time: 13:45:57 Visit me at http://www.pobox.com/~amp == -export-a-crypto-system-sig -RSA-3-lines-PERL #!/bin/perl -sp0777i<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<j]dsj $/=unpack('H*',$_);$_=`echo 16dio\U$k"SK$/SM$n\EsN0p[lN*1 lK[d2%Sa2/d0$^Ixp"|dc`;s/\W//g;$_=pack('H*',/((..)*)$/) == 'Drug Trafficking Offense' is the root passphrase to the Constitution. Have you seen http://www.public-action.com/SkyWriter/WacoMuseum ------------------------