Re: "German service cuts Net access" (to Santa Cruz)

At 1:10 AM 1/29/96, John Lull wrote:

>Are you saying that, if I ran a bookstore, and accepted international
>mail orders, I would have to screen every order to ensure I did not
>ship something offensive to the German government?  And if I did fill
>such an order, and without ever having set foot in Germany, I could be
>arrested on my next trip to Europe, extradited to Germany, and
>imprisoned for doing something that is constitutionally protected in
>the US?

As a point of information, the operators of the "Amateur Action" bulletin
board in Fremont, California are now sitting in prison because they
e-mailed material fully legal in California but illegal (the court
determined) in Memphis, Tennessee.

And, yes, there are many things which are "constitutionally protected"
inside the U.S. but which are crimes in Europe and elsewhere. (And things
that are legal in Europe, but illegal in the U.S., and all permutations.)
One can write a book in the U.S. and receive a death sentence in Iran.

Get used to it. It makes no sense for us to whine and complain about
Country A outlawing some activity that is legal in Country B.

The thing for us to do is to use technology and code to subvert and bypass
laws of any country which are repressive and controlling.

--Tim


Boycott espionage-enabled software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
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: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

> As a point of information, the operators of the "Amateur Action" bulletin
> board in Fremont, California are now sitting in prison because they
> e-mailed material fully legal in California but illegal (the court
> determined) in Memphis, Tennessee.

Actually, it wasn't because of what they emailed, but rather the
owner/operators of AA BBS snail-mailed a video cassette that contained
"pornographic" materials.  Unfortunately it sets a bad precedent
nonetheless.

-derek

Derek Atkins <warlord@MIT.EDU> writes:
> > As a point of information, the operators of the "Amateur Action" bulletin
> > board in Fremont, California are now sitting in prison because they
> > e-mailed material fully legal in California but illegal (the court
> > determined) in Memphis, Tennessee.
>
> Actually, it wasn't because of what they emailed, but rather the
> owner/operators of AA BBS snail-mailed a video cassette that contained
> "pornographic" materials.  Unfortunately it sets a bad precedent
> nonetheless.

I didn't follow this case that closely, but I'm quite certain that I read on
the net that the prosecution's witnesses dialed AA BBS _by modem_ from TN
(establishing jurisdiction) and downloaded the materials that were later found
to be offensive to TN's community standards. Snail mail may have been also
involved, but I definitely recall that letting someone in TN download the stuff
via modem was in the indictment.

IMO, this sets a precedent for the German incident.

---

Dr. Dimitri Vulis
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps