Re: cat flames >/dev/null

[kovar () NDA COM (David Kovar)]

> > I'm tired of this argument.  Do any of your machines receive news?  Do 
> > any of your users receive internet mail?  There are just 2 pathways for 
> > 'illegal' information to enter your systems.  There is no stopping it: 
> > even some sort of censoring scheme would require temporary spooling.
> >
> > There is an implied risk in connecting to the internet.  This is one of 
> > them.  If you're not willing to accept this risk, unplug your routers.
> >
> >                                 ...Eric

  When the FBI calls you in to have a chat, you may not think it very funny.
A few years ago, I ran a public Internet site in Boston. One of my users
had been communicating with some other people via email about some odds
and ends, including how to build bombs. Nothing novel, stuff out of
the Anarchist's Cookbook. It took me most of the day, sitting in an
office at the Federal Building in Boston, educating an agent about how
the net worked, how hard it was to monitor things, the privacy problems
with monitoring email, etc.

  I spent the next two weeks sweating bullets, waiting for them to confiscate
my system, a system I depended on for my livlihood.

  You may not think it serious, but others do, and not without reason.
The Feds are much more likely to grab first and ask questions later.
We've seen this time and time again, from computers to files, to
guns, to whatever.

  Wake up and smell the coffee.

-David