Outlawing general purpose computers *is* feasible
At 09:31 PM 7/1/02 -0700, Tim May wrote:
Unfortunately it is being introduced at the same time as there is legislation proposed, the SSSCA, to outlaw general purpose computers
Anyone who believes this, or even repeats it as a rumor, is on drugs.
I have half a dozen computers, all usable in various ways. Not even in a Chinese-type police state could these legally-acquired computers, acquired for a lot of money, be declared "outlawed."
Substitute "assault rifle" for "computer" and think about it, Tim. Or substitute "japanese american"... First you register them. Then declare them a public threat. Then you confiscate. Buying up your old-style computers will be cheap for the government. Most of the sheeple will be happy to unload them. What, you didn't register your Lisa? Better not use it online, your ISP will be required to check for a registration cert issued by the State.
Saying that general purpose computers lacking TCPA/DRM will be "outlawed" is silly.
Right, and a bayonet lug can't lead to a felony... And the sheeple can't be led to believe that "unpoliced" computers are used by terrorists and pirates bent on undermining the Amerikan ekonomy (tm)... Ah, to be as optimistic as Tim May on a fine summer day..
-- Tim May:
I have half a dozen computers, all usable in various ways. Not even in a Chinese-type police state could these legally-acquired computers, acquired for a lot of money, be declared "outlawed."
Major Variola (ret)
First you register them. Then declare them a public threat. Then you confiscate. Buying up your old-style computers will be cheap for the government. Most of the sheeple will be happy to unload them.
What, you didn't register your Lisa? Better not use it online, your ISP will be required to check for a registration cert issued by the State.
As Stalin said : : Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let : : our enemies have guns, why should we let them have : : ideas? Of course the SSSCA will not fly, it is already dead in the water, but something that is a small step towards it will fly, and then someone will complain that the loopholes in that small step need to be fixed, and so on and so forth. The laws will always get worse unless they are massively broken. The restrictions on cryptography went away because everyone defied them, but anti circumvention and regional encoding seems to have succeeded, which is going to result in more of the same. Same thing with money laundering. I am glad to see that the recent terrorism related crackdown on money laundering has led to a massive upsurge in defiance of these new and old restrictions, which will doubtless eventually lead to some reasonable easing back. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG QsUHrGL2QNZlo+jpeCUba7pIlDWjzNaBIpOjWpVz 2FWhsO3kXWr5ya6t8VAnzFkFZzpNYMpHTFxB2zK7L
Outlawing computers is perfect for outlaws, though the public at large may be buffaloed into consuming whatever is pushed in its direction for safety and security in lieu of outlawed freedom to choose. And gray and black markets will supply those public members who get fed up with crowd-control tools of limited interaction. Indeed, an anti-patriot might welcome oppressive operating systems and chips as a boon to increasing the number of people who won't accept being told how to interact with their computers. If MS and buddies are successful in getting a clamp on what you can do with mass-marketed computers then the colored market for alternatives will rocket. To be sure the illegal boxes will have to be kept out of sight, and here the moonshiners have a wealth of information to share, along with arms merchants, drug kingpins, money launderers, rogue nations, guerillas, rebels, anti-royalists, just about anybody who is not part of the momentarily ruling crowd of thieves. And don't overlook the insiders ever eager to cut a deal against their vile bosses, to pass along tips on what is being hidden in the MS/gov-approved boxes, how to get around it, what will beat it, and so on, in the glorious anarcho tradition, cooking up new ways of doing business off the grid, mostly by offering better products than those of available at the endless-patch mall. Salespeople overeager to capitalize on an short-term market with shoddy products are rainmakers for makers of dependable tools. Gates is nothing but a salesperson to his best customers, the TLA national security hustlers. Sure, you'll have to cut-tongue an anarcho rat become a salesperson now and then, but that's why box cutting scimitars are blessed by the Beezlebub. Metaphorically speaking.
participants (3)
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jamesd@echeque.com
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John Young
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Major Variola (ret)