At 07:18 PM 09/24/1997 -0700, Tim May wrote:
I think it was Bill Stewart who recently described all the various minor crimes which will likely soon involve crypto, things like calling for a hooker on a phone that has crypto in it, using a Metricom Ricochet wireless system to send banned words to a foreigner, and so on. All kinds of minor crimes suddenly have 10- and 20-year sentences attached.
I've been using "Jaywalking while talking on a digital cellphone", but also things like "Cheating on your taxes with PGP on your computer"... We came up with a bunch more at the recent Cypherpunks meeting. So many of the extra-penalty laws are bogus; one classic abuse was a guy in New York who was charged with "illegal possession of a linoleum knife". Now, possession of linoleum knives is perfectly legal, even without a flooring-installer's license. _This_ knife became illegal when he allegedly stabbed his girlfriend with it, at which point he could - keep the knife (illegal possession of a previously non-illegal object) - get rid of it (illegal obstruction of justice), or - turn it in at police station (good start on an insanity defense...) Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, stewarts@ix.netcom.com Regular Key PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639