Re: The lights went out in Georgia

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 5:05 PM -0700 5/27/97, Bill Stewart wrote:

>It's not really a big problem - the law doesn't forbid the EFF to accept
>anonymously submitted communications, it only forbids Subjects of the
>State of Georgia to send them.
>
>>(Will Georgia seek the BlackNet operator's extradition for not complying
>>with Georgia's law when he submits the BlackNet key? Does the Georgia EFF
>>plan to enforce the Georgia law?)
>
>If you don't provide enough address information along with your key
>for the Cracker Police to find your True Name and hunt you down,
>that's just a shame, now isn't it...  especially if the EFGA doesn't
>file a complaint about it.  Besides, how can they extradite someone they
>can't find - send polite diplomatic notes to all the governments
>in the world asking them to find some unknown character for them?
>"Please extradite the usual suspects!"

I see this point of view expressed here often, the "they can't catch you so
don't worry about the law," and "they won't be able to get California to
extradite you."

First, I don't happen to think this particular law, even if not overturned,
is likely to see much enforcement, even in Georgia.

However, the large point remains. And I'm less persuaded than Bill is that
such laws are ipso facto ignorable.

I'd hate to be changing planes at Hartsfield (the big hub airport in
Atlanta) and have their computers flag me as having violated their law at
some time in the past. (Why would they bother? Who knows. Maybe a
shakedown, like a speeding ticket. Maybe orders from elsewhere. The point
is that they don't have to _extradite_ nonresidents to have them feel the
force of the law.)

Oh, and any company doing business in Georgia would be a point where legal
pressure s could be applied. Any large company would have to take this law
into account, and could not just cheerfully cite Bill's casual dismissal.

(Again, I don't think this law has much power, and the sponsors have
probably already forgotten it.)

--Tim May

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."