From: Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 03:51:22 +0800
To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Subject: UNSAFE Re: Encouraging News - France
In-Reply-To: <v03102801b030b79f7be2@[207.167.93.63]>
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970901122901.03012ae8@popd.ix.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 11:25 AM 9/1/97 -0700, you wrote:
>This is why so many of us are opposed to SAFE, which for the sake of eased
>export requirements would infringe on domestic use of crypto. (By
>felonizing crypto use in conjunction with a crime, and that crime could be
>any one of thousands of crimes on the books.)

According to some article on some mailing list, SAFE appears to be dead;
the chairman of one of the relevant committees believes too strongly in
"National Security" to be willing to let it out.  On the other hand,
if it does get out, the ACLU and CDT lobbied some words into it that
would at least limit the use-a-crypto penalties to crimes that are
Federal criminal felonies, so jaywalking while using a cellphone doesn't 
get hit (unlike jaywalking while carrying an assault BBgun.)

It's still seriously wrong, of course, but at least the number of cases
that it applies to is substantially reduced, though the number of 
Federal felonies keeps increasing at an appalling rate.

If SAFE does go through, I'm sure someone will get busted for 
selling drugs while using a cellphone, with the prosecution arguing
that since the cellphone is capable of interstate phone calls,
the drug deal is a Federal crime and not just state, and therefore
the use-crypto-go-to-jail applies...

#			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 or news, please Cc: me on replies.  Thanks.)