Re: Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act of 1995

[danisch@ira.uka.de (Hadmut Danisch)]

> >1. If the bill becomes law, how can someone who violates it be
> >punished?
> >
> 
> - From the top of my head:
> Subpoena your service provider's computer records. 


That's not a problem. He will find a lot of encrypted
messages and images of nude girls. Both is not illegal. :-)


> Intimidate your roommate
> into testifying against you.  

I don't have a roommate.


> Tapping your phone. 


I use encrypted modem connections and Nautilus.



> Feds are in the business of putting people behind bars.  They are _very_ good
> at it.

That's the question. How long can they put me behind bars?




> I'm betting that the Feds will adopt as a working definition anything that
> requires a key to decrypt the communications.  That means compression
> software, rot13, and most hash functions are ok.

rot13 is not ok, 13 is the key. Someone should register at the department. :-)



> Expert Testimony:  "We experimented with 113,296 keys chosen at random and
> the defendants algorithm took an average of 29,000 years to find each one.
> It is our professional opinion, therefore, that the defendant is jacking us
> around and ought to be keelhauled".

Oh boy, wonderful experts....



Hadmut