On Wed, May 24, 2000 at 01:55:46PM +0200, Harald Alvestrand wrote:
At 18:27 23.05.2000 +0000, Dawson, Peter D wrote:
btw, this info would be required on the fly... so that net admin/sec
would be in a better position to pinpoint the perpetrator's habits/
physiological profile etc..
the idea that any net admin in the world can be authorized on the fly to
pinpoint my habits, physiological profiles "etc" by an unverified
accusation of suspicion of computer crime does not strike joy into my heart.
I'm glad it's illegal in Norway.
Now throw this mix into the pot...
France just got a court order against Yahoo to force them to
prohibit any auctions of Nazi related memorabilia from reaching French
citizens. It's illegal in France, as is hate speech with is perfectly
legal here in the US. Of course, a large volume of material that is
considered perfectly legal in France, is considered banned and illegal
pornography in the US. France, violence is out, sex is in. US, violence
is in, sex is out. Both have laws to back it up that can cover the net.
Don't know what you've got there in Norway, but I'll bet we
can come up with some delightful contrasts there as well.
The European Union just leap frogged over the US relaxation of
crypto regulations and basically freed up crypto for one and all. The
US is not happy, with appropriate insinuations of it assisting the four
horsemen of the infocalypse.
In this atmosphere where the arguing parties can not even decide
on what IS and IS NOT a crime and where "political crimes" and "thought
crimes" outnumber hard crimes, we should not be talking about throwing
more technology at what is fundamentally NOT a technological problem.
We should be working on solving technological problems and designing
the best technology possible.
At a recent conference on computer crimes, I belive a call was
made for uniform laws and enforcement, or something similar. While
there is the danger of those uniform laws proving to be the lowest
common denominator of the most draconian ones, it also likely to fall
prey to countries and their interests in religiously protecting the
rights and freedoms they cherish most. In the end, I think I would
wait and see what these uniform laws and enforcement end up being, before
I start arguing about what technology would be appropriate to support them.
I would not, however, hold my breath while waiting for this new era
of uniformity and cooperation.
Harald
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Harald Tveit Alvestrand, EDB Maxware, Norway
Harald(_dot_)Alvestrand(_at_)edb(_dot_)maxware(_dot_)no
Mike
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NIC whois: MHW9 | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
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