jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala) (09/02/90)
In article <15815@bfmny0.BFM.COM>, tneff@bfmny0 (Tom Neff) writes: >>Say Bob was temporarily maintaining an FTP list, and thus called a *lot* >>of FTPs in a short time. And/or say there was an easily-mistakable >>(to the police) book sitting by his computer like the GURPS book. > >Maintaining it for whom? If it's for a legitimate entity, Bob has no >problem. When they ask he says, "I'm maintaining the FTP list for Sam >at the such-and-such department; here, call him, he'll vouch for me; >here's what I do every night, I have nothing to hide." What's more >there would probably have been some public on-the-record announcement >made that Bob would be taking over for a month during Sam's vacation. I would say that your society is in a rather bad state if you have to prove that you are a white hat - that you didn't commit a crime. I thought one of the main principles of law in a modern society is that one is innocent until _proven_ guilty; what you are saying would mean that I'm guilty unless I can prove myself innocent. If you are willing to live in a society like that, fine. I'm not, and seems that many others even in the U.S. are not - perhaps that's why EFF was formed. It really seems that there's a big need for an organization like the EFF. On a totally different track, I wonder when glasnost will come to the U.S. (and to Finland ;-) It seems that the Eastern European countries in general and even the Soviet Union will soon be nicer places to live than the U.S considering the freedom of individuals. For example, I as a Finnish citizen always need a visa to go to the U.S. And this is by no means 'just a formality'; there are questions like 'have you ever been a member of a communist party' and if you say you have been a member of a communist party, you won't get a visa. Also, I've heard of cases where the U.S. embassy didn't give the visa, but started to question things like who you are going to visit to in the U.S. and asked for copies of personal correspondence with the folks you're going to visit. Generally a visa is needed for a Finnish citizen to visit the Soviet Union, but on some short trips one is not needed, and I certainly haven't heard of any silly questionnaires to be filled; it's a simple form where not much is asked. The meaning of the trip is asked, but a 'tourist trip' will do just fine. Now that the basic requirements for life such as a Usenet connection ;-) start to be available in the Eastern Europian countries as well, perhaps those wanting to live in a more free society should move to Moscow. I wonder if I'll get a visa to the U.S. after I tell here that two weeks ago I had email correspondence to both the Pentagon and Moscow at the same day (not Kreml, but Vadim says he can see Kremlin in his window) ;-). I mean, I have Russian contacts, isn't that considered very suspicious in the U.S. ? Here's a joke posted by Vadim G. Antonov to eunet.test. Vadim is a hacker (in the old, white-hat sense of the word) living in Moscow. // Early morning. Gorby waked up by a phone ring. He opens eyes // and asks: "Who?" // "Shevarnadze speaking. Misha, can you remember the paper you // signed yesterday while we drank together?" // "And what?" // "You allowed all the people to leave USSR alone!" // "And what?" // "Look at the window - there are nobody on the street!" // "But you're still in USSR?" // "No, I'm ringing you from New York." //Jyrki Jyrki Kuoppala Helsinki University of Technology, Finland. Internet : jkp@cs.hut.fi [130.233.251.253] X400 : /C=fi/A=fumail/P=inet/O=hut/OU=cs/S=Kuoppala/G=Jyrki BITNET : jkp@fingate.bitnet Gravity is a myth, the Earth sucks!