Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!rutgers!gatech!mcnc!uvaarpa!murdoch!astsun9.astro.virginia.edu!gl8f From: gl8f@astsun9.astro.virginia.edu (Greg Lindahl) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Steve Jackson Games Search Warrant Message-ID: <1990Nov18.034409.1833@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Date: 18 Nov 90 03:44:09 GMT References: <1990Nov14.151548.6650@eff.org> <1990Nov16.215719.12860@eff.org> Sender: news@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia Lines: 20 In article <1990Nov16.215719.12860@eff.org> mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes: >First of all, the text of the messages makes it clear that there >was actually no decrypting service (although the Secret Service >edited the message to make it seem as if there was). And, if there >had been one, would it be illegal per se? (That is, would it be >illegal if the person were not doing the decrypting as part of >a conspiracy to commit a crime? What statutes does running a >decrypting service violate?) I found it interesting that the feds didn't explain at all why such a service would be illegal. Of course, if you crack passwords and then use the result to illegally enter a computer, then there's a crime. But when I use COPS to crack passwords on my own machine, for the purpose of telling my users to stop using stupid passwords, it's not illegal. And if I collect password files given to me by users of various machines as part of a statistical study of stupid passwords, that also hardly seems a crime. Of course, lockpick tools are illegal in some places. True or false?