Re: Clinton signs draconian antipiracy law, from the Netly News

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 1:47 PM -0700 12/18/97, Tim May wrote:


>(I could declare this posting to have a "value" of $1000, and in fact offer
>to sell it to non-Cyphepunks list members for $1000. It would be fully
>legal and feasible for more to do this. Then, if someone made a "copy" of
>it, as they might make a copy of Microsoft Office, they've broken the new
>law. Of course, the Copyright Cops won't go after Joe Blow for "pirating"
>my little article...they'll only go after their corporate donors.)

What I meant by this was that the Copyright Cops will only go after those
who illegally copy the items made by big corporations and other friends of
the enforcers. Netscape and Oracle are Friends of Bill, so they'll get
quick attention. Joe Blow will be put on hold.

Even though my article is given a value of $1000 by me (who else?), there
will be no interest whatsover in prosecuting someone for illegally copying
my article.

However, let the cops find some Zip drives or CD-Rs marked "Microsoft
Office" in the home office of someone like me when they finally get around
to raiding my home, and they'll look to see if each and every item has full
receipts (which I don't usually even keep anyway). And they'll look for
more than the _one_ allowed backup, or whatever the law finally says is
permissable...

"Al Capone jailed for violation of the Copyright Act...Ness says the
Copyright Act can be used to get criminals untouchable using ordinary laws."

"Anarchist's home in mountains raided...thousands of dollars worth of
illegally copied articles, files, and CDs found...prosecutors say "three
strikes" law could put anarchist separatist survalist spy May away for life
without the possibility of parole."

And now I need to go mount  that Leupold scope on my new Remington 700 .308
sniper rifle....just the thing to reach out and touch someone.


--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."