From: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 18:56:13 +0800
To: "Vladimir Z. Nuri" <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: proposed anti-pseudospoofing law in Georgia
Message-ID: <m0uFCmz-0009CUC@pacifier.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 12:52 PM 5/2/96 -0700, Vladimir Z. Nuri wrote:

>this proposed law in Georgia 
>would make it illegal to have a login name other than 
>your legal name, as I understand it.
>I consider it rather silly, naive, and unenforcable, 
>but it does suggest a few things:
>
>1. lawmakers are starting to notice the internet bigtime.

Yes, they are.

>2. its starting to freak them out.

Apparently, very much so.

>3. the identity issues raised by cyberspace have significant 
>social implications and will not go away quietly.

Not if legislators keep pushing their luck...

>4. there are some legitimate reasons to require ID in some places
>in cyberspace.

Only as far as is mutually agreed.  If two people want to do business, we 
can reasonably expect that they will do so under whatever conditions they 
can agree to.  If one of those conditions is that they require ID from the 
other, fine.  The problem comes when third parties (like, for instance, 
government) requires it; that's wrong.

>meanwhile, if the internet really is robust, their irrelevant
>posturings should not make much difference, although I am *not* 
>advocating that people resign themselves to these laws, only that
>if they pass the situation is not necessarily catastrophic or
>apocalyptic.

I don't think it's apocalyptic.  But that's because I think there's a 
permanent solution to their meddling.

Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com
Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com