I thought Extortion was illegal?

[CERuppel]

Check out this story.

http://www.freep.com/voices/columnis...6_20030826.htm

And then tell me; Is extortion still illegal?

Or have the writers of news articles just forgoten that the law still exists, at least as far as lower middle class?

You need to be some sort of corporation or something to get this kind of pull, don't you? Or could I just go in and copyright my next short story, then use that copyright to gain ANYONES personal info? Including, but not limited to your web sites visited, downloads, and the usual name, address, phone, SSN, etc...

Doesn't this scare any of you as much as it scares me? Imagine what the members of congress will do to keep their personal info private. But then imagine what those same people will do to keep your personal info private.

And the final straw in this little "plan" is that the subpeonas are not just available to US citizens, against US citizens. Anyone world wide can ask for (demand) the info of any US ISP user.

This sort of thing sucks beyond belief.

[Xeroid]

Every time I turn around someone is shooting the Constitution full of holes. I can't believe these courts allowing the trashing of the Bill of Rights!

Yes indeed you have the right to privacy . . . unless you own a computer.

[M_Six]

Unbelievable, isn't it? All it takes is big bucks and you can buy this kind of pull. Think of the blackmailing that could occur because of this. The scams will be out of control.

[427Windsorman]

I thought Extortion was illegal?

it is only illegal if not government sponsered

[SiliconJon]

Well, with the way things are going, we're going to need to bring back the BBS. But we need a way to do it over high-speed lines while keeping it private and unattached to the internet.