Re: Digital Fingerprinting

[Brian Davis <bdavis@thepoint.net>]

On Mon, 11 Sep 1995, Duncan Frissell wrote:

> 
> On Sun, 10 Sep 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:
> 
> > If a piece of mail addressed to me is found littering the highway, can I be
> > convicted of littering? No, because the _provenance_ of that item of mail
> > cannot be determined...it might have accidentally blown out of a trash
> > truch delivering my mail to the dump, for example.
> 
> I'm afraid that they are busting people in New York for recycling 
> violations when they find mail addressed to them mixed in with household 
> garbage in public trash cans.

Finding the mail mixed in there is evidence that supports the "charge" 
but surely can be rebutted.  When I was practicing in a small town c. 
1984, people would be summoned (sent a paper telling them to show up) to 
court for illegal dumping if their mail was found with other trash, old 
refrigerators, etc., in a creek somewhere.  Those charged could always 
put on proof that Billy Bob's garbage service picked up their trash ...

The sentence was almost always to go and pick up some multiple of the 
garbage found and take it to the landfill.

No on was ever "busted" in the way I think of it -- arrested.

I guess NY doesn't have as much serious crime as I thought!

EBD



 
> DCF
> 

Not a lawyer on the Net, although I play one in real life.
**********************************************************
Flame way! I get treated worse in person every day!!