Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnewsh!wcs
From: wcs@cbnewsh.att.com (Bill Stewart 908-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: DUI and Privacy Laws - was Re: Lotus Marketplace
Summary: splitting the discussion a bit
Message-ID: <1990Nov23.220901.19700@cbnewsh.att.com>
Date: 23 Nov 90 22:09:01 GMT
References: <5010@rsiatl.UUCP> <1990Nov20.181212.28545@looking.on.ca> <5039@rsiatl.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Here, beside the rising tide
Lines: 37

In article <5039@rsiatl.UUCP>, jgd@rsiatl.UUCP (John G. DeArmond) writes:
> Of course, in real life it does not work that way.  You are NOT required
> to blow the box.  You establish a presumption of being drunk by doing
> so but you are NOT forced to blow.  This could indeed be considered
> "guilty until proven innocent."  The way you avoid this trap, of course,
> is to not drink and drive.  Then you have no exposure to this trap.

Wrong on both counts!  The only way to have no exposure is to have cops
not want to harass you - you not only have to drive safely and soberly,
you have to avoid towns with gestapo cops or monthly ticket quotas,
leave those Grateful Dead stickers off your car, and have short hair
and the right color face.  As Ed Meese said, "Innocent people aren't
usually suspects."

In New Jersey, California, Delaware, and probably most other states,
you DO have to blow into the box, or you automatically risk losing
your driver's license, whether you're drunk or cold sober - and they
inform you of that when you get the license.

Privacy laws are that way too - if the police decide, for whatever reason,
that you might be violating the John DeArmond Memorial Privacy Act,
then they can pull a Steve Jackson sting on you and trash your business 
whether you're guilty or innocent - even if you're presumed innocent,
the legal costs of defending yourself can be staggering, especially
when they've confiscated all you're records as evidence and your
sources of income are gone.

Now, if your proposed law applied only to *government* possession
and use of data, that would be nice.  But don't give them another
handle on search and seizure of our papers, possessions, and property.
If you trash the 4th Amendment, the pseudo-liberals will trash the 2nd,
and you won't be able to defend yourself when they use your law on you.
-- 
					Thanks; Bill
# Bill Stewart 908-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs AT&T Bell Labs 4M-312 Holmdel NJ
Government is like an elephant on drugs: It's very confused, makes lots of noise,
can't do anything well, stomps on anyone in its way, and it sure eats a lot.