[plug] Censorship - this thread needs a new home...

[Paul Wilson]

Nick spake thusly :
>On Thu, May 27, 1999 at 05:24:17PM +0700, Paul Wilson wrote:
>> Hold on, that piece says that most emails wouldn't be included (they're
>> private transactions) - it's just those sent to a group. I assume that a
>> group is either mailing list or newsgroup in this context.
>
>It doesn't say anything about private transactions being OK, what it
>says is that they don't feel inclined to monitor them as a matter of
>course (gee, thanks) so they're probably not going to catch you. Well,
>except for the DSD staff, who'll probably have a jolly little chuckle
>at the mere idea of you sending a "private" email.

OK, I stand corrected. However, unless your email actually passes through
one of the choke points monitored by DSD, they're not going to have an easy
time picking up email outside a mailing list. Me to another iinet subscriber
wouldn't go outside QV1, me to the USA *may* use the satellite link (anyone
know under what circumstances that's used for outgoing?), and incoming from
abroad probably will.  So, regardless of what the rabble in Canberra say,
unless DSD have the infrastrucure that the FSB in Russia want (look up
project SORM on the net - truely frightening), they're going to have
problems trapping anything consistantly.

>What it boils down to that access to some types of information is a crime.
>Context is irrelevant, the local laws of where the information is are
>irrelevant, the reason for its access is irrelevant. Thoughtcrime.
>
>Access to other types of information is only legal with an approved
>identification scheme. (No official one exists yet. It'll probably turn
>out to be credit card details) No anonymous browsing ; one would have to
>authenticate oneself to any sites which provided material unsuitable
>for children - general news, many computer games, health issues,
>homosexuality, drug rehabilitation, etc.

Either credit cards or a number from an ID card (the US tends to use the SSN
that way, inspite of it being borderline illegal to do so) - neither
impresses me at all.  CC's are way too easy to rip off, and the crime level
is already huge, and ID cards are a definate no-no for most thinking people.

Shit either way.

Paul