Another Cypherpunks Investigation?
Tim May
timcmay at got.net
Sat Sep 13 10:46:50 PDT 2003
On Saturday, September 13, 2003, at 10:36 AM, Tyler Durden wrote:
> Tim May wrote...
>
> "The questions being asked of Jim may have to do with the Feds making
> the only prosecution they can make: that those passing on such threats
> via mailing lists are somehow guilty of some crime. This is just
> speculation on my part."
>
> I thought the Feds questions to Jim Choate had more to do with
> anti-spam enforcement....
>
Assuming this is not some silly joke comment,
First, the Feds have no significant "anti-spam enforcement" role.
Anti-spam laws, such as they exist now, are not being criminally
enforced, hence a DOJ role is unlikely.
Second, the Pennsylvania connection is unlikely for an anti-spam
action, even if some poor soul in Penn. got spammed via a subscription
list (meaning, likely no basis for complaint!).
Third, nothing in Choate's message mentioned spam or anything in
detail. So why you would think the issue was related to "anti-spam
enforcement" is a mystery to me.
Fourth, the search results I got were pretty convincing to me that a
direct death threat was leveled against a government official, by name.
The message even referred to waiting for her as she jogged by (or
somesuch language, see the posting about Mary Beth Buchanan for
details). The Feds take these kinds of posts a _lot_ more seriously
than they do anti-spam measures, which likely don't even have the
status of being actual criminal laws, at least not yet. And the
recipients of a mailing list have no basis for claiming they were
spammed through a list they voluntarily signed up for.
Q.E.D.
--Tim May
"I think the root of the problem is that we tend to organize ourselves
into tribes. Then people in the tribe are our friends, and people
outside are our enemies. I think it happens like this: Someone uses
Perl, and likes it, and then they use it some more. But then something
strange happens. They start to identify themselves with Perl, as if
Perl were part of their body, or vice versa. They're part of the Big
Perl Tribe. They want other people to join the Tribe. If they meet
someone who doesn't like Perl, it's an insult to the Tribe and a
personal affront to them."
--Mark Dominus, "Why I Hate Advocacy," 2000
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