I do agree that if you haven't contacted your congresspeople, now is the time; the ACLU makes it very easy to do this with this link.

That said, it should be pointed out that numerous congresspeople have pointed out that the White House's proposed legislation is way over the top. Leahy has introduced a second bill that basically is more reasonable; it updates such issues such as wiretapping on a person, not just a specific device, but does not include many of the questionable suggestions, such as deterring immigrates indefinitely. I very much doubt the WH version will pass without significant changes.

The other issue is the computer acts as terrorism part. You need to refer to Section 1030 of the US Code, and specifically look at parts (a)(1), (a)(4), (a)(5)(A), and (a)(7). While IANAL, the only one that the occasional 'nmap' or similar tool could be considered as a terrorist weapon is (a)(4), and that's only if the nmap or other tool is used further to suck data off the end computer. Most of those specific parts of the code are , IMO, true 'cracker' crimes, and deserve any increase in punishment (eg, this could easily apply to people like script kiddies or virus writers). Mind you, if I was to use nmap on a system that I don't directly control, or other similar tools, I would check with the the end user and make sure that they are ok to be simply scanned.

-----------------------------------------------------
Dr. Michael K. Neylon - mneylon-pm@masemware.com || "You've left the lens cap of your mind on again, Pinky" - The Brain
It's not what you know, but knowing how to find it if you don't know that's important

In reply to Re: (OT) Pending Anti-Terrorism Legislation in the US could impact us all by Masem
in thread (OT) Pending Anti-Terrorism Legislation in the US could impact us all by idnopheq

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