Re: Fwd: Check Your Computer at the Border

[leslie bialler lb136@xxxxxxxx]

'A. Joseph Ross' wrote:
>
> On Fri, 14 Aug 1998, leslie bialler wrote:
>
> > Probably one of those Internet hoaxes. I don't believe a word of it.
>
> Oh, I believe it. It was recently reported in =Science Fiction
> Chronicle=, a news magazine of the science fiction field, that David
> Asimov (son of Isaac) had taken his computer to be repaired. The repair
> place discovered what they considered to be child pornography on his hard
> disk, which resulted in his getting arrested.

Interesting. The old problem of what constitutes pornography returns yet
again.

But I don't see how it refutes my prior comments. In fact, I think this
incident reinforces them. The hoaxer has obviously taken note of real
incidents and has presented the Internet, as happens so many times, with
the Plausible Impossible. If somebody can present me with evidence
proving that Her Majesty's Royal Customs Inspectors (or whatever they
are properly called) do in fact wear paper badges with mysteriously torn
corners and talk like American film-noir cops I will run up the white
flag. Unless and until that happens I will maintain my position.

>
> As it happens, his hobby is videotaping his favorite TV shows, which means
> that when the police raided his home, they discovered a lot of videotape
> and video equipment. This made them think he was dealing in the stuff.
> His attorney remarked that they're going to watch an awful lot of "Ozzie
> and Harriet" as they go through those tapes.
>
> But this should give any of us pause as to what we store on our hard
> disks.
>

All this proves that Son of Asimov really needs to get a life. And so,
for that matter does anybody who downloads kiddieporn to a hard drive.
But of course, if they had one they wouldn't be downloading kiddieporn
to their hard drives, would they?

--

Leslie Bialler
Columbia University Press
lb136@xxxxxxxx