132 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
132 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
From talk.politics.guns:
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> As an intellectual exercise, people who use this phrase should
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> think about their favorite leisure time activity and try to
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> think of reasons (however irrational) other people might think
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> that activity has no legitimate reason to exist. If you need
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> help, send me email and I'm sure I can demonstrate.
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WHEREAS: personal computers are the "instrument of choice" used by outlaw
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computer hackers who break into private company computer systems,
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AND, whereas personal computers are used for word processing, or freely
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publishing whatever material critical of government policy, or
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critical of another person as the author may choose,
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AND, whereas such published material is often sent while the author
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is still "hot under the collar",
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Now be it resolved that personal computers, typewriters, and other word
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processors should be strictly controlled in the following manners:
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1) A seven-day waiting period should be instituted whereby a
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check can be ran on the computer purchaser to see if he/she
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has any record of mental disorder or criminal or misdemeanor
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offense. This will also give the would be author a chance to
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"cool off" and reconsider whether or not to publish a heated
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letter that might upset some government bureaucrat's delicate
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little ego.
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2) After background checks have been performed on the prospective
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computer purchaser, said computer shall be duly registered
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with the government, and shall be kept on the premises of
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a computer club, under lock and key. The computer owner shall
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not transport the computer from the club premises without
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prior permission from Howard Metzenbaum or Teddy Kennedy.
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3) No computer should be sold having a hard disk of more than
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500,000 bytes. Disks of 20, 40, 60 and 80 megabytes capacity
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permit far too much space to store inflammatory and anti-government
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material, which can be dumped to a printer in rapid-fire
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fashion. Such computers are "assault computers", and have
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no place in a polite society.
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4) Fast speed printers shall be prohibited. Such printers enable
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an amateur author to literally bury the opposition in reams
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of paper. This amounts to the government being clearly
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"outgunned", or outpublished by a disgruntled citizen author.
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5) Portable word processors shall be prohibited. They are too
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easily concealable, and can be carried aboard airliners
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where it is all too easy for the author to whip-up a heated
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letter while enroute to the next destination. These, cheap,
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easily concealable instruments serve no other purpose than
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to assassinate the characters of innocent people.
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6) Floppy disks shall be carefully imprinted with a magnetic
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tag which will be a unique identifier, easily traceable in
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the event of illegal use. No floppy disk of more than
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300,000 bytes will be permitted. Present owners of such
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disks will have until six months after enactment of this
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article to either register, destroy or render them inoperable.
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7) The government shall have authority to enforce this act by
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any means it sees fit. Once denied a permit to purchase, the
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citizen shall have no recourse. Police are empowered to invade
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a private dwelling to confiscate suspected contraband. No
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warrant is needed for enforcement of this act.
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Failure to comply with any of the above requirements shall result in
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up to 5 years imprisonment, and up to a $10,000 fine. Prison overcrowding
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shall not be an excuse for not imprisoning a violator of this act. A resident
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felon shall be placed on parole to make room, in such event.
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Reasons for support of this act are offered as follows:
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These modifications to existing computer ownership are mild controls
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that will significantly reduce illegal use of personal computers, while
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at the same time protecting rights granted under the First Amendment.
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No "individual" right was intended by the framers of the First Amendment.
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"Freedom of the press" was clearly intended as a "collective" right granted
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to an organized press, such as a newspaper or magazine publisher.
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Further, the "right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for
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a redress of grievances" is clearly not valid in this case. Assault computers
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are clearly a vicious threat to the public, and therefore warrant dispensation
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of whatever right was intended by this phrase. Therefore, no recourse shall
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be made available in the courts or through the legislature. Such grievances
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introduced in any court of law shall be immediately determined to be
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"frivolous", and be immediately dismissed without consideration. It is proper
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that no "mindless" appeal to the Constitution about some imagined right be
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recognized, in this case.
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No "individual" right was intended by the framers of the Fourth Amendment,
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either. The right of the "people" to be secure in their personal dwellings
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and properties is merely a "collective" right granted to whomever those same
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"people" happen to be, as mentioned in the First, Second, Ninth and Tenth
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Amendments. It has already been established that the Second Amendment is not a
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right of the "people" at large, but a right of the States to assemble a
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militia. Perhaps, the "people" mentioned in other amendments are these
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select persons comprising the several state militias. Therefore, only those
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serving as members of a state controlled militia have any right to be secure
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in their personal properties, especially personal "assault" computers.
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Whatever was meant by rights not enumerated in the Constitution, as
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contained in the Ninth Amendment, clearly does not represent any imaginable
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right granted to any individual. Again, the "people" referenced here are
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those same "people" mentioned above - either the organized press or the
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organized militia.
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These very mild proposals are indeed a minor tradeoff for the incalculable
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damage done by illegal computer use, even if only one would-be computer hacker
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is stopped by them. No prospective computer user can be so immediately in
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"need" to purchase a computer that he/she cannot wait a mere seven days
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(or forever), unless he/she is intending to use it in an unlawful manner. No
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body "needs" a computer so badly they cannot wait a mere seven days to take
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possession of it. No body "needs" a computer that is capable of storing more
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than 500,000 bytes of information on its hard disk. No body "needs" a fast
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printer capable of printing over 300 characters per second. Such computers
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serve no amateur, or "sporting" purpose, if you will.
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########################################################################
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"On every question of construction (of the Constitution) let us
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carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted,
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recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying
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what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it,
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conform to the probable one in which it was passed." - Thomas Jefferson,
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letter to William Johnson, June 12, 1823, The Complete Jefferson, p322.
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