Re: Are booby-trapped computers legal?

[Mac Norton <mnorton@cavern.uark.edu>]

If the jury isn't persuaded betond reasonable doubt 
that you were in genuine apprehension of serious harm
to yourself or your family--not your property--then
you will be acquitted of using violence to repel an
intruder into your home.  Maybe not your south 40,
but your home.  

Indeed, if the local prosecutor or US Atty believes,
on the positive side, that your actions were reasonable,
you probably won't even be charged.  

Now, that doesn't of itself make deadly force right,
but as I'm just through with cleaning two shotguns
(dove season here, going again Friday), I'm not going 
to argue the point too vigorously.  I'd say the morality 
of such situations, leaving aside the legality, is 
extremely fact-intensive.

Situational ethics?  Excessive subjectivity?  I think
not--I think we can apply objective standards to each
individual case, but it's fatuous to do so in advance.

MacN

On Tue, 5 Sep 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:

> >I don't know what you call it but if nothing else it is ethicaly and moraly
> >reprehinsible.
> 
> Different strokes for different folks. Anyone entering my house unannounced
> faces lethal response. I think of it as evolution in action, and doubt I
> would lose any sleep over this.
> 
> It has nothing to do with equating human life over property, it has to do
> with defending one's property and (maybe) one's life. Here in California,
> it is becoming more and more common for "home invasions" to be followed by
> execution of all of the witnesses. (Read "The San Jose Mercury News" for
> accounts of gang invasions in which all the residents in a home are lined
> up and shot, excecution-style.)
> 
> I won't get into a discussion of which states permit lethal force
> responses, as this is a topic which even I think belongs in
> talk.politics.guns or similar fora.
> 
> Suffice it to say that most states allow lethal response under threatening
> circumstances.
> 
> --Tim May
> 
> ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
> Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
> tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
> Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
> Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
> "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."
> 
> 
>