Re: PA Remailer Concerns

[Brian Davis <bdavis@dg.thepoint.net>]

On Sun, 15 Oct 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:

> At 2:13 AM 10/16/95, Futplex wrote:
> 
> >I would very much like to see this law tested. I think it could prove fairly
> >important to attack it with a well-planned, benign test case rather than wait
> >for the next National Liberation spam or a death threat.
> >
> >I don't live in PA, but I would be willing to participate as the defendant in
> >a test case under the right circumstances. Presumably I would open an
> >account with an ISP in Penna., set up a remailer on the account (need to find
> >an ISP that clearly allows that), and have somebody send a message through it.
> >
> >We would need to design a promising test case and find an attorney willing &
> >able to offer pro bono services.
> 
> I'm not a lawyer, though I hang out on the "Cyberia" list and I watched a
> lot of the OJ trial. :-}
> 
> Seriously, it is hard to "design a promising test case" in this way.
> They--the Pennsylvania law enforcement authorities--don't have to take the
> bait. They can just do nothing, until an incident arises which provokes
> them. Maybe next year, maybe five years from now. Such an incident is
> likely to be one that they figure will make for a popular prosecution. One
> of the Four Horseman, probably.

I must've missed that day from the O.J. trial.  You are, of course, 
correct that you can't force the state to prosecute you.  You might try 
the following, however, depending on Pennsylvania law (where I am not 
admitted, this isn't legal advice, you aren't my client, and all that 
other crap ...):

Let's say someone decided to set up a commercial remailing service and 
had an aunt with an empty bedroom, phone lines, and a powerful computer 
which she only used to save her recipes.  She happens to live in 
Pennsylvania, near an ISP that allows remailers ...  She offers to help.

You obtain the service of Pennsylvania counsel to advise you on the legal 
aspects of your proposed service.  The lawyer refers you to the new 
statute and says it may be a problem.

Your proposal's success or failure rides on the interpretation of the 
statute. So you instruct your lawyer to review the possibility of filing 
a civil suit for declaratory relief concerning the constitutionality of 
the statute and the interpretation of the statute.  Your civil complaint 
frames the terms of the (public) debate and is the subject of any initial 
press coverage before the Pa. Attorney General has even heard of the suit....


 
> --Tim May
> 
> Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
> ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
> 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."
> 
> 
> 

Not a lawyer on the Net, although I play one in real life.
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