On Thu, Sep 12, 2002 at 11:35:26PM -0400, R. D. Davis wrote:
> Quothe John Allain, from writings of Thu, Sep 12, 2002 at 10:28:28PM -0400:
> > There's probably a good story here, but one that I personally
> > haven't lived... For those of us who shop at Hamfests, you
> > may have heard that owning and operating certain types of legal
> > radio equipment before WWII apparently became illegal after it started.
>
> Illegal to own it? Zog! When are we going to start hearing that
> owning computers with mass storage devices, computers designed to use
> mass storage devices, or mass storage devices, are illegal acts? How
> soon before the illegal posession of "controlled devices" will be as
> serious, or more serious, a crime as the illegal posession of
> "controlled substances?" Next, it will be illegal (or at least easier
> to get caught... it's probably already illegal) to open up one's cable
> TV converter box to check for hidden microphones and cameras.
AFAIK it is already illegal in the US of A to mess with any
eavesdropping equipment of the police/FBI/.gov you may happen to find
in, on or connected to your property (yeah right - and the big bad drug
lord _of_ _course_ leaves the microphone in his living room in place and
keeps discussing his drug shipments from south amerika there - after
all, he's a law abiding criminal *manical laughter*). Or so I've read
somewhere.
> How long before we're all going to have to begin using "internet
> appliances" so that we can't do subversive things like keeping backups
> of our own data? Will it soon become a federal felony to use
> computers that aren't connected to the Internet all of the time so
> that they can be spied on at any time?
There was a nice logo spoof of the NSA somewhere with the embedded text:
"1984 - we're behind schedule". But they sure work hard to catch up.
Regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison
Received on Fri Sep 13 2002 - 09:58:00 BST