From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!duke!unc!brl-bmd!wmartin Newsgroups: net.followup Title: Re: Computer Crime Article in August Smithsonian Article-I.D.: brl-bmd.286 Posted: Thu Jul 29 13:25:09 1982 Received: Fri Jul 30 06:20:09 1982 Every CBBS I ever tried to access would only accept 300 bps at most. Reading all of them at that rate would keep someone busy 25 hours a day! (At least!) I've seen references on some BBS's to the effect that they all know that the authorities are reading them, so I wonder how much reward the FBI really gets out of this. Probably just "big brother" psychology; knowing that someone is watching deters many marginal miscreants. Actually, I resent that my tax dollars are being spent to pay these FBI people to protect MCI, Sprint, Ma Bell, or any corporation. They can hire their own security people and do it themselves! Gather the evidence and present a package to the appropriate district attorney, without spending public monies doing this! The same argument goes for the incredible waste of my tax monies when the FBI harasses video pirates for violating copyrights, or tape and record counterfeiters, or, for that matter, people peddling fake Levis or Cartier watches. Companies should be responsible for gathering the evidence of offenses against them themselves, and the public agancies only take over when presented with already-collected evidence of the violation of criminal law. (And for that matter, copyright should be solely a CIVIL, not a criminal issue!) I seemed to have wandered... The magic flame button was pressed... Regards, Will Martin