[4219] in WWW Security List Archive
Re: DON'T DO THIS! (please!) Re: i'm sorry :)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Bonomi)
Fri Jan 31 05:12:35 1997
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 02:07:47 -0600 (CST)
From: Robert Bonomi <bonomi@delta.ece.nwu.edu>
To: tpw0@gte.com, vadillo@apu.rcp.net.pe
Cc: Firewalls@GreatCircle.COM, jim@telecnnct.com, jmr@rmisp.com,
tpw0@ns.gte.com, www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
Errors-To: owner-www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
+ To: vadillo@apu.rcp.net.pe (Enrique Vadillo)
+ cc: jim@telecnnct.com (Jim Harmon), jmr@rmisp.com,
+ www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu, Firewalls@GreatCircle.COM,
+ tpw0@ns.gte.com
+ Subject: Re: DON'T DO THIS! (please!) Re: i'm sorry :)
+ Date: Thu, 30 Jan 97 10:03:52 -0500
+ Sender: firewalls-owner@GreatCircle.COM
+
+
+ Chain letters are illegal because they often required the sender to
+ include money and threatened dire consequences if the recipient did
+ not participate. This made it a form of extortion, a crime under USA
+ law. In this particular chain e-mail message I see neither of these
+ two things so I doubt that any US law was broken.
Chain letters are illegal for several additional reasons, in the U.S.
Violation of 18 USC 1302 (postal lottery), 18 USC 1341 (mail fraud),
and possibly 18 USC 1345 (wire fraud).
_ANYTHING_ which "induces one to send money through the mails", for
fraudulent purposes, constitutes Mail Fraud -- even if the 'proposition'
was -not- mailed.
By transmitting the info _into_ the U.S., the perpetrater _has_ broken
U.S. laws. At least two, and probably three felony counts.
This general class of scam is known as a "Ponzi scheme", and constitutes
fraud, in and of itself, under the laws of practically -every- country
on earth. State or provincial level governments usually have anti-fraud
statutes that apply as well. So do most municipalities.
+
+ As for the Internet, it was established initially as US Department
+ of defence project called the Arpanet using a protocol developed by
+ a US computer consulting firm, BBN. It was later turned over to
+ the US National Science Foundation to administer as a network
+ connecting institutions of higher education so it had originally
+ been a decidedly American institution. Of course it has grown far
+ beyond the borders of the US and that I think is a very good thing.
+
+ Each country that now participates in the Internet I am sure tries
+ to apply it's own laws to its use and I can cite intances of this in
+ Great Britain and Germany. I expect Peru will do the same if it
+ hasn't already. This is not a matter of US ruling anything. I
+ doubt that anyone can rule the Internet now. It is too big and too
+ diverse.
+
+
+ > ---- Jim Harmon wrote ----
+ > > #1! Chainletters are Illegal (snailmail) in the United States. Why
+ > > should they be legal on the Internet?
+ >
+ > And who said the Internet should be American-like?
+ >
+ > I just guess The United States are not the rule in all things.
+ >
+ > I agree with you on the basics of chainletters, though.
+ >
+ > Enrique-
+ > --
+ >
+ --
+ Tom Witt |
+ GTE Laboratories, Inc | "Let tomorrow take care of itself.
+ phone: (617) 466-2582 | Today has trouble enough of its own."
+ email: twitt@gte.com |
+ GTE Telemail: T.Witt | Jesus of Nazareth
+
