From: Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 19:21:23 -0800 (PST)
To: "John C. Randolph" <jcr@idiom.com>
Subject: Re: ARKANSAS BANS PHONE SCRAMBLERS
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19970116185324.0062e970@popd.ix.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


> The Arkansas Police have declared that is is illegal to own, use, or
> possess RSU product #11265113, a fully assembled
> descrambler/scrambler, in the State of Arkansas.  

Yee-hah!  I'm guessing that it's probably illegal because the
police use them for "secret" conversations, or some such silliness,
and don't want Bad Guys to be able to eavesdrop on what's probably
a trivially analog-scrambled phone-garbler.  
Perhaps them good ol' boys have some more devious reason,
or even have a law backing them up, but probably not.

How soon do you think it'll be before they start busting people
for Radio Shack Equipment Smuggling?  Why, next thing you know
there'll be people sneakin' across the border from Texarkana with
pickmeup-truck loads full o' contraband encryption gear
as well as the usual Lone Star Beer cans in the back.

If I were Radio Shack, and the state did this to me after the
police bought a bunch of them for police use, I'd be real upset.

#			Thanks;  Bill
# Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com
# You can get PGP outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/pgp
#     (If this is a mailing list, please Cc: me on replies.  Thanks.)