Not just in Canada: Laws criminalizing "hacking tools" [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Hacking Tools: Digital Version of Ancient Analog Law
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 15:15:09 -0400
From: Vicki Richman <vicric () vicric com>
Reply-To: vicric () vicric com
Organization: http://vicric.com
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
References: <430DF8FB.7010908 () well com>

	Subject: [Politech] Details on Canada's new push on wiretaps, hacking 
tools [priv]
        Date: Thu, Aug 25, 2005 at 10:59:39AM -0600
        Declan McCullagh (declan () well com) writes:

> Subject: UNLawful access
> Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 19:26:38 -0400
> From: Yasholomew Yashinski <yashy () mail yashy com>
> To: yashy-hack () mail yashy com, declan () well com
>
>  What exactly is a "Hacking tool"? Like a knife, gun, or hammer, almost
> all software tools can be used for good or evil.

South of the Canadian border, many states have had statutes
against possession of "burglar's tools," or devices that
could conceivably facilitate forcible entry into a locked
house or motor vehicle.

See, for example, New York state Penal Law 140.35:

    http://www.nycourts.gov/cji/3-PenalLaw/140/140-35.pdf

Or N.J.S.A. 2C:5-5b:

    http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/criminal/charges/burgtools2.pdf

Or California Penal Code Section 466

    http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cacodes/pen/466-469.html

Often dating back to before the Civil War, such laws have
attempted only to keep homeless drifters out of insular
suburban and rural communities and have been ignored in
urban centers. They have often been rendered moot by a
civil-libertarian defense or just by enlightened judges
refusing to enforce them.

Such tools are routine to the typical home-owning
middle-class, which has been unaware that laws against them
exist.

The Canadian statute outlawing "hacking tools" likewise seems
aimed only at a class of persons, not at a particular action
or event.

--
Vicki Richman
vicric () vicric com
http://vicric.com

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