Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rphroy!caen!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hp-vcd!johne
From: johne@hp-vcd.HP.COM (John Eaton)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Lifestyle Information ( was Re: Safeway Stores to Accept Charge Cards)
Message-ID: <6750024@hp-vcd.HP.COM>
Date: 15 Apr 91 15:55:45 GMT
References: <9418@rsiatl.Dixie.Com>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Vancouver, WA
Lines: 27

<<
< Now that's a little bit different.  Instead of catching a bunch of
< people who were avoiding selective service it caused grief for a bunch
< of people ripping off an ice cream store.
----------
An example of "O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to
deceive".

One thing to remember about "The Law" is that there are so many of then that
most people violate some on a daily basis. We allow them to set speed limts
knowing that they will ignore minor violations and not nail us everytime
that we edge over the limit. If the police think a particular law is stupid
then the standard tactic to get it repealed is for them to enforce it to
the letter of the law. If every car in America had a computer monitor that
issued speeding tickets for EVERY violation then you would see the law
quickley changed.

Computers and data bases are giving us the ability to detect and prosecute
lawbreakers that previously escaped undetected. But before we go out and
fill up the prisons we need to examine these laws determine if they would have
even been on the books if people knew that they would be enforceable.

John Eaton
!hp-vcd!johne