[IP] more on Hard time? Not for cyber criminals
Begin forwarded message:
From: merlyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Randal L. Schwartz)
Date: August 18, 2004 4:15:02 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: ip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Hard time? Not for cyber criminals
"Dave" == Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Dave> p. 224 Texas Computer Crimes Act, which is not substantially
different
Dave> from that of any other state, . by [these laws] looking at
someone.s
Dave> digital watch without permission could be a felony.
Dave> ------------------------------------------
When I give my "Just another convicted Perl hacker" talk, I point out
that under Oregon's ORS 164.377, the law under which I was made a
felon, unauthorized access to a computer is a misdemeanor, and
unauthorized alteration is a felony. But then I go on to point out
that "computer" is pretty much everything with a CPU (which is nearly
everything these days), and "unauthorized" is never qualified.
Which means that in Oregon (like many states), if you ring my cell
phone (which is a computer, and you're now altering it: draining the
battery, using up my prepaid minutes, adding to the "recent calls"
log), and you're not "authorized" (whatever that means, since it could
mean so many things), you're a felon.
Think that's a joke? During one of our pre-trial motions, the judge
said (now part of caselaw) that "altering the background screen on an
employer's computer" would qualify under this law. Yes, set your
preferences wrong (or at all), and you're going to jail!
The laws that have been passed are not correlated with reality. They
come from a fantasy world where computers were in big ivory towers,
and even then, they didn't make sense. They also speak of
"authorization", but that could mean so many things. Do I have
explicit authorization to call your cell phone? If you publish it?
If I've been annoying you recently? If I don't have permission, where
do you need to publish that fact as sufficient warning?
It's just crazy. All crazy. And I'm a felon because of a
misunderstanding exactly along these lines, and it's cost me dearly.
(By the way, I will give this 90-minute talk wherever invited, as long
as you can help me cover my costs. I promise an educational as well
as entertaining experience.)
--
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777
0095
<merlyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
Perl/Unix/security consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc.
See PerlTraining.Stonehenge.com for onsite and open-enrollment Perl
training!
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