On Mon, 9 Jul 2001, Zane H. Healy wrote:
> Jeffrey S. Sharp wrote:
> >Well, I don't like this OT crap either. I've never been on a list
> >before that even came close to classiccmp's 80% OT-ness.
>
> I've got to agree. Over the years I've maintained the stance that the
> little off-topic discussion we've got on this list is OK. HOWEVER, in this
> case it's reached ridiculous levels! Take it offline folks!
>
> Zane
Normally I'd agree, but I don't see that the issues in the most
contentious segment of the thread are all that off-topic, given things
like the Australian Parliament's moves to criminalize "hacking", what
happened with the Sydex tools, and that whole paranoid, projective, cop
mentality, setting up for the day when some over-zealous opportunist of a
prosecutor tries a list member for "virus" (ie. non-Windows) code on his
PDP-8 or something. Go ahead and laugh; yes, it's aburd, but we've seen
way too much absurd shit in this vein in the last few years.
To wit, hot off the wire, apparently, the State of GA is bringing much
shame and embarrassment on itself by prosecuting a former admin at Dekalb
Tech for running distributed.net RC5 clients on school computers.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?start=1&catid=39&threadid=490400
The exact circumstances are unclear to me at the moment, but the state
remains to show he actually acted improperly or caused any harm. At the
worst, it appears this *might* have warranted a reprimand at most,
here in the "it may not be easier to get forgiveness than
permission, but it's necessary, just don't get caught" state, where poor
families daily face choices such as "do I drive without a license and/or
insurance to get to work today, or do I obey the law like a good citizen,
only to face prosecution for child neglect and have DFACS take my kids",
not a 15 yr., $415,000 fine felony conviction.
Or should we shoot him, Dick? By the way, I see your points, and I think
you and Sellam are actually arguing from the same position, I just don't
think you realize there may not always be an honorable way to address
things the way you say should be done without having to break a few laws
here and there. The deck is stacked, and the other side is not fighting
fair. Voice of bitter experience.
My 2 cents,
jbdigriz
Received on Mon Jul 09 2001 - 12:34:19 BST