Re: Assassination Politics--isn't it gambling?

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At 06:00 PM 2/6/96 PST, banelaw@med.com wrote:
>Jim: as to "Assassination Politics."  Isn't the structure you describe
>gambling?  Placing money on a prediction, with the correct predictor
>winning? 

I guess that depends on the laws, doesn't it? <G>   Seriously, though, since 
all the participants are anonymous, and it can all be done from overseas...

Somehow, though, I think politicians will take little solace from knowing 
that they are protected from death only by laws against gambling.

> And if so, isn't it illegal if done over the wires, i.e., federal
>commerce?  I'm not looking for a way to declare your scheme illegal, I'm
>just pointing out that there are other angles, especially if done over the
>wires.

I'd sure like to read a serious legal analysis of all this.  Maybe all the 
lawyers are too terrified to respond.


> I guess you could move the structure off shore--pity the poor country
>hosting such an entity!  If you were at all succesfull, the server accepting
>digital cash would be moving from place to place--remember pirate radio?

Presumably, the digital cash could be encrypted with the organization's 
private key, and published (anonymously) on a USENET area, in a way which is 
untraceable and unidentifiable.

Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com

Klaatu Burada Nikto

Something is going to happen.   Something.......Wonderful!

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At <http://www.us.net/~steptoe/welcome.htm>, there is a link to a paper by
Stuart A. Baker, formerly (if I remember correctly) NSA's Chief Counsel.

     EMERGING JAPANESE ENCRYPTION POLICY
     by
     Stewart A. Baker


Acouple of choice paragraphs:

Japan's encryption policymaking is in its early stages, but there are
strong signs that encryption is increasingly seen as a key technology for
improving Japan's penetration of the Global Information Infrastructure. A
highly selective (and possibly biased) sampling of informed Japanese
opinion on cryptography suggests a growing determination to treat
cryptography as a national Japanese economic priority.

- and -

For a variety of reasons, commercial interests are predominant in Japanese
government thinking about encryption. Time after time during my interviews,
I was reminded that Japan was an island nation that has not had to defend
itself for fifty years and so has not had to confront the national security
concerns associated with encryption. And Japanese police face severe
political and constitutional constraints on wiretapping, so the prospect of
losing this criminal investigative tool seems not to be as troubling to the
Japanese government as to the United States and many European nations.


There's lots more here, and I haven't read it all.


-- Marshall

Marshall Clow     Aladdin Systems   <mailto:mclow@mailhost2.csusm.edu>

"Eternal vigilance is the price of PostScript"
-- MacUser Jan 96 DTP and Graphics column

On Wed, 7 Feb 1996, jim bell wrote:

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> 
> At 06:00 PM 2/6/96 PST, banelaw@med.com wrote:
> >Jim: as to "Assassination Politics."  Isn't the structure you describe
> >gambling?  Placing money on a prediction, with the correct predictor
> >winning? 
> 
> I guess that depends on the laws, doesn't it? <G>   Seriously, though, since 
> all the participants are anonymous, and it can all be done from overseas...
> 
> Somehow, though, I think politicians will take little solace from knowing 
> that they are protected from death only by laws against gambling.

Yeah, those silly homicide laws don't apply if there is a bet on the line.

> 
> > And if so, isn't it illegal if done over the wires, i.e., federal
> >commerce?  I'm not looking for a way to declare your scheme illegal, I'm
> >just pointing out that there are other angles, especially if done over the
> >wires.
> 
> I'd sure like to read a serious legal analysis of all this.  Maybe all the 
> lawyers are too terrified to respond.
> 
Wire fraud would be the least of your worries.  Try conspiracy to commit 
murder.

> jimbell@pacifier.com
> 
> Klaatu Burada Nikto
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I know I should know it, but can't place it.  Help 
anybody?

EBD