🚀 go-pugleaf

mnemonic@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Mike Godwin) writes:

>In article <4619@qip.UUCP> john@qip.UUCP (John Moore) writes:
>>
>>It is true that the Pentagon Papers were not for the public's eyes. However,
>>they were not of criminal value (unlike credit card numbers) and did
>>bear on major public issues.

>Actually, the federal government argued strongly for the position that
>the Pentagon Papers should be regarded as stolen *property*.

There is NO difference between possesion of the Pentagon Papers and
credit card numbers.  Possesion of either one of these neither indicates
criminal intent nor indicates that a crime has been comitted.  The act
of acquiring either may involve criminal activity but that is a separate
issue.  

To give an example:  I have a file around here that contains GOBS of
valid credit card numbers.  Some even have correct PINs.  Why do I have
this file?  Easy.  I once wrote some software for a client that involved
algorithmicly validating credit cards.  I required a live file in order
to QA the code.  As long as I use the file in accordance with my contract,
my posession of this file is perfectly legal.

By the same token, possessing a copy of a supposedly secret document 
has no intrinsic criminal value.  One may not even know that it is
stolen.  Criminal activity would involve the act of illegally obtaining
the document and/or trying to do something illegal with it such as
treason or blackmail.

Where our civil liberties get trampled  is when the government tries to 
make the act of possession a crime.  That not only leaves one's fate
up to a matter of judgement, but it also makes inocent people subject
to gestapo tactics such as used in Operation Sundevil.  The ultimate
crime will be when some SS jerk kills an inocent citizen who is 
defending his property from the storm troopers, thinking he is under
criminal assault.

John

-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC  | "The truly ignorant in our society are those people 
Radiation Systems, Inc. | who would throw away the parts of the Constitution 
Atlanta, Ga             | they find inconvienent."  -me   Defend the 2nd
{emory,uunet}!rsiatl!jgd| with the same fervor as you do the 1st.