[ale] firewalls... illegal? Cany anyone read legalese?

[Jason Day]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2003 at 09:53:44AM -0500, Geoffrey wrote:
> Jonathan Rickman wrote:
> 
> >(ii) to conceal or to assist another to conceal from any communication
> >service provider, or from any lawful authority, the existence or place
> >of origin or destination of any communication
> 
> I believe there must be intent to conceal.  Also, as I nat a number of 
> machines, my intent is not to conceal, but to reduce the cost of my 
> service.  If I purchased 10-20 real ips from my isp, my monthly cost 
> would go up dramatically.  Further, I'd suggest that as long as all 
> communication from my home is transmitted through my isp's connection, 
> I'm not breaking the law.  Point being, the connection is considered to 
> be from my home to the isp, not from each computer in my home to the 
> internet.  Now, my isp is aware of my nat, whereas, Bellsouth has a 
> separate package for such efforts.

I agree with everything you're saying here.  But, if this bill becomes
law, you would be breaking it.  And the "intent" argument would have to
be argued in a court of law.  Expensive.  Not to mention the possible
jail time and seizure of *all* your computers.

> 
> >
> >Over to Ed here, because he puts it so well:
> >
> >"Your ISP is a communication service provider, so anything that
> >concealed the origin or destination of any communication from your ISP
> >would be illegal -- with no exceptions.
> 
> Gee, there goes all that ssl credit card purchasing....

Exactly.  The implications of this bill are staggering.  But, call me
cynical, but a law doesn't have to be well-written or even
well-thought-out to be passed.

Jason
-- 
Jason Day                                       jasonday at
http://jasonday.home.att.net                    worldnet dot att dot net
 
"Of course I'm paranoid, everyone is trying to kill me."
    -- Weyoun-6, Star Trek: Deep Space 9
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