Re: Yes, indeed the PA law is for real!

[Rick Busdiecker <rfb@lehman.com>]

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    Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 18:42:35 -0400 (EDT)
    From: Tom Edwards <tedwards@access.digex.net>

    Well folks, you can go view the new PA law yourselves at URL
    http://moose.erie.net/~italo/rssb655.html

    PA Senate Bill 655 was signed into law on June 13, 1995, and it does
    appear to make non-logged anonymous remailers illegal.

I'm guessing that you're referring to this part of the law:

  (1) [makes or possesses any instrument, apparatus, equipment or]
  makes, distributes, possesses, uses or assembles an unlawful
  telecommunication device or modifies, alters, programs or reprograms
  a telecommunication device designed, adapted or which can be used:

  . . .

  (ii) to conceal or to assist another to conceal from any [supplier
  of telecommunications] telecommunicationservice provider or from any
  lawful authority the existence or place of origin or of destination
  of any telecommunication; or

IANAL, but this sure sounds like one could make the case that an ISP
that allowed users to send mail to arbitrary addresses,
e. g. xxx@anon.penet.fi, would be `guilty' of assisting another to
conceal the place of origin and/or destination of a telecommunication.
I'd imagine that the authorities would be a bit more likely to go
after anonymous-remailer@xxx.net however.

In fact, I wonder if the fact that mail to rfb@cmu.edu is forwarded to
rfb@lehman.com couldn't be construed as `assistance' if I happened to
receive mail at that address through penet.  Sigh . . . .

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