Announcing that it isn't property doesn't change seven hundred years of Common Law, anymore than the mantra that "perjury isn't impeachable" changed the law in the 90s (in fact, 7 of the 10 impeachable offenses that Blackstone listed were forms of perjury, and 3 or 4 federal judges were impeached for various perjury in the 80s).

The computer is tangible personal property, and withholding/controlling the password exercises dominion and control ofter that chattel.

This has long been recognized. For example, "trespass vi et armis" is an civil (might also be criminal; I haven't worried about it in decades) doctrine governing trespass without physically being on the land, the classic example being the percussion from an explosion on the next land causing damage.

It is certainly *easier* to prosecute under newer specific laws, but claiming that the current laws *cannot* be used is just plain wrong.

hawk, esq.

Nah, it was the writers' math teachers that were foiled . . . mixing "for the most point, they don't respond" with "nearly a third" not answered . . . so for the most part they *do* respond.

hawk

As an attorney, I could easily see prosecuting these under traditional property crimes, as well: a password is a type of property, and taking it could be larceny, for example.

Such laws certainly make the prosecution easier (to the dismay of my criminal law partner)

hawk, esq.

I won a free 7" Galaxy 3 at a conference last week.

It would take a lot more to reach "underwhelmed" by it.

At $500 for an iPad, and $100 for it, I'll take the iPad.

Heck, at $500 iPad, and free tablet, I'll take the ipad.

hawk

They're not forced. to.

To have this tax collected for them, instead of trying and failing to collect a "use tax" as they do now, they would have to agree to this simplified system which is not burdensome on the small business collecting it.

Either the entities sharing the zip code agree, or they watch the revenue pile up on trust.

hawk

Search works Dan Ashman on article life. That particular one may be apocryphal (given how AL is designed, it probably is, as most are run in artificial environments, and not on the machine themselves).

Anyway, it's well known that the experiments *do* evolve to take advantage of flaws in the environment. I had a sign error in an economic model, and it found an equilibrium at a negative price.

Dan had a bad random number generator, and the things evolved to take advantage of its sequence! (I assume he's written about this at length, as much as he talked about it . . .).

In another case where someone in that same group was evolving programs, they instituted a random choice after a certain number of program steps as a penalty for taking too long. Turns out that the critters evolved to use that as a synchronization device . . .

Either of these could be the source of your tale after being relayed a couple of times.

A second system would be unlikely for most of these--even on a 486, complex experiments were done on single computers.

hawk

Speaking as a lawyer . . .

"in court" is the catch.

*which* court?

There isn't a court in the country with jurisdiction to prosecute "he sped somewhere in some jurisdiction." A court needs to convict for a specified violation within it's own jurisdiction. An acknowledgment that means a crime was committed *somewhere* that *might* have been in that jurisdiction isn't sufficient to convict.

hawk, esq.

>Collecting sales tax on behalf of the states has
>been proposed, but some states don't collect sales
>tax and again, it probably would be struck down as
>unconstitutional based on state's rights to collect
>the tax.

Speaking as a lawyer . . .

you're just plain wrong on this.

The Supreme Court has made it clear that while states cannot force out of state entities to collect sales tax for them, it is for Congress to find a solution. It is not that states *cannot* tax the purchases, but that they cannot tax *out of state* entities. Congress indisputably has the power to handle the issue.

hawk, esq.

The solution has been obvious for more than a decade.

Each zipcode gets a tax rate. If it crosses jurisdictional lines, either the jurisdictions resolve the split between themselves, or it stays in trust until a court resolves the split.

This is a *very* small array for an electronic report.

The company writes a single check, with a monthly electronic report breaking it down by zip code.

Well, Fluffy *had* caught a record-setting number of mice about the plant recently . . .

hawk

Nah, it's well established.

I regularly get sent things that only need me to provide my card number, social security number, and date of birth to confirm my information.

The exiled Chief's widow has friends in Russia that are helping get my money back . . .

hawk

Agreed. Abelson should be ashamed of himself.

three-tier laws in most states were not to protect the distributors, but to protect against out of state manufacturers controlling the industry.

Still a protection of local interests, but not quite the one it looks like . . .

doc hawk