Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!lll-crg!mordor!sri-spam!nike!ucbcad!ucbvax!UNH.CS.CMU.EDU!Hank.Walker From: Hank.Walker@UNH.CS.CMU.EDU Newsgroups: mod.politics Subject: [Hank.Walker@unh.cs.cmu.edu: proprosed privacy amendment] Message-ID: <12228296063.23.MCGREW@RED.RUTGERS.EDU> Date: Tue, 5-Aug-86 01:56:29 EDT Article-I.D.: RED.12228296063.23.MCGREW Posted: Tue Aug 5 01:56:29 1986 Date-Received: Tue, 5-Aug-86 23:09:34 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: Hank.Walker@unh.cs.cmu.edu Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 30 Approved: poli-sci@red.rutgers.edu --------------- Return-Path: Date: Tuesday, 29 July 1986 23:49:11 EDT From: Hank.Walker@unh.cs.cmu.edu To: hoffman.es@xerox.com Subject: proprosed privacy amendment What are "others?" Is a person a human being, a mammal, an animal, a vertebrate, plant, or what? Can you screw your dog under this amendment? How about torture your cat? What is "a clear and present danger?" Is smoking in front of your kids a clear and present danger since they are much more likely to get sick? What about whipping your kids hard enough to scar them, but not kill them? Is that a clear and present danger? If you screw your dog at night in the living room with the lights on and curtains open, is this private, assuming screwing your dog is allowed with the curtains closed? (The Supreme Court has ruled that you would have no exceptation of privacy if you can be easily seen from the street, a plane, etc). What about incest? Is the possibility of a deformed child a clear and present danger? What if the female's on the pill? This proposed amendment seems so vague that it could be stretched to conflict with many existing widely-accepted laws, such as cruelty to animals or child abuse. I think to be useful, the privacy must fit in with the rest of the bill of rights and the existing set of widely-accepted laws. -------