New Law Putting Net—and You—at Risk

Liston outlined several of these concerns to me in an e-mail exchange. He wrote: "The real issue here is that the law is just so utterly vague that you cant be sure of anything. Everyone has been telling me that I need to get a lawyers opinion on this, but somehow hiring a lawyer to tell me whether or not I can legally give away what I know is perfectly legitimate software just strikes me as wrong. Just plain wrong."

Liston also told me that he had been working on a next-generation "LaBrea on steroids," but this is now in limbo until the Illinois law gets straightened out.

So now, possibly millions of people in these states are breaking the letter of these laws—with fines and jail time possible, if unlikely, penalties. And because of these laws, a highly effective program that stops the spread of worms is no longer available.

So if the spread of a worm ravages your company, you might want to thank the legislatures of Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wyoming for making it more likely.

If you live in one of these states, or in a state that is considering one of these Super DMCA laws, you should contact your representatives immediately. And you might want to remind them that if they have any kind of normal IT setup, they are probably also breaking these laws.

For more information on the Super DMCA laws and to see where your state stands, go to the Electronic Frontier Foundations Super DMCA page.

East Coast Technical Director Jim Rapoza can be reached at jim_rapoza@ziffdavis.com.

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