From: Jack King <gjk@well.sf.ca.us>
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 94 05:52:34 PST
To: lcottrell@popmail.ucsd.edu
Subject: Re: cfp '94 transcript
Message-ID: <199403291352.FAA10544@well.sf.ca.us>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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In Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, it is now a federal crime to state
orally or in writing to any federal administrative or law enforcement
officer, during the course of an official investigation that you don't know
what they are talking about if in fact you do.  So if, for instance, you are
a user on an anonymous bulletin board and you are asked if you are "X" when
in fact you *are* X and you deny it, you can get a couple of years for that,
even if you are not the subject of the investigation or guilty of any
criminal activity--in theory, at least.  This also pertains to any other
kind of investigation: tax, environmental, drugs, antitrust, armed
carjacking, international weapons trafficking, or anything else coming under
federal jurisdiction.

Mike Godwin stated that the FBI agent said something like "
"we can lie to you, but you can't lie to us."  That has always been true
under 18 U.S.C. 1001.  But now you can't even answer one of their questions
with a "no" if the truthful answer would be "yes."  You should read up on
this, it's scarier than Clipper and the digital telephony proposal combined.