Tim May:

Some solutions:

1. Make programs like "readdat.exe" ubiquitous...distribute them on shareware disks, CD-ROMs, etc. Thus, many households and offices will have "readdat.exe"-like programs, whether they use them or not. Mere

I like this idea, as long as the mere possession of such programs isn't also criminalized. Don't laugh -- the government actually seems to think that they can enforce laws banning the mere private possession of certain types of bit patterns, like child pornography. I have about two dozen CD-ROMs on my shelf, containing the usual oodles of gigabytes of stuff. Mostly mirrors of anonymous FTP archives and shareware BBSes. So far I have read only a tiny fraction of the bits on those disks, and I expect I'll never read much more. There's no reasonable way I could be expected to know if there isn't a contraband file or two buried in all those gigabytes. But consider the Akron BBS operator who got busted for a file that somebody had uploaded to his machine, transferred off to backup and forgotten. I wonder how many similar files have already made it to CD-ROM? Makes me kind of wish I had bought all my computer equipment and software anonymously, for cash... Phil