[free-sklyarov] Anybody here own a town? 1201(e)

[Jeme A Brelin]

On Thu, 30 Aug 2001, Karsten M. Self wrote:
> There's an interesting, if possibly unweildy, hole in the DMCA, in
> section 1201(e), the law enforcement, intelligence, and other
> government activities.  The exemption here applies to "the United
> States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State", or "a person
> acting pursuant to a contract with" [a qualified political unit].  
> The exemption applies to "any lawfully authorized investigative,
> protective, information security, or intelligence activity", and the
> last term is broadly defined:  ''information security'' means
> activities carried out in order to identify and address the
> vulnerabilities of a government computer, computer system, or computer
> network.

I saw where you were going before you got there...

>     http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/1201.html
> 
> Seems to me that we need to find ourselves a small town somewhere
> which can deputize the lot of us to perform "information security"
> assessments of various computers, computer systems, or computer
> networks.  Since the community itself is widely distributed, uses a
> broad range of computer applications, and communicates largely over
> the Internet, this provides a broad scope for activity, and a sound
> basis for communicating findings and discoveries in an open channel.

This is brilliant.

And it doesn't even have to be a small town.  We just need a government
agency to sponsor research into information security.  Just let them say,
"Sharing amongst individuals and teaching within a community being the
heart of personal and community growth, in the public interest, we shall
support and disseminate any information gathered that will lead to the
easier distribution of information amongst individuals and within
communities.  Any person willing to contribute to our public education
effort is hereby authorized to conduct research into information security
and shared information technologies for the public benefit."

Or something like that.

J.
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     Jeme A Brelin
    jeme at brelin.net
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