Notice: IANAL and i'm not citizen nor resident of the USA (INCORoUSA).
Leaving the 'protect the children' meme aside...
I think it is possible to define most of electronic based text communications under a generic term such as 'email' or 'electronic mail'. In this case, I believe, the judge did uphold the "spirit of the law". Certainly electronic communcations do change constantly: Many have shifted to IM style, which attracts mostly young people because of the inmediate response and increased interactivity between the parts.
Laws should have the >least loopholes possible, or it gives the criminals the chance to evade justice. As I already said, electronic communications are changing forms, and the only way a law can contain a definition is by being broad (which is not necesarily a good thing) or by having judges and juries who give a resonable interpretation to it.
It has been already done.
In the Referendum in Venezuela, electronic voting was used exclusively, and a special (propietiary) program was designed by the elections comissions technicians to record every vote (that means each vote assigned to each voter). That data is used by the goverment to hire, fire or punish in many ways public servants from burocrats to judges, thus quenching any oposition. That data has been leaked in CD-ROMs you may buy it in any mayor city and is widely used not only in the goverment but also in the private sector, together with the list of signatures of the people who wanted the referendum.
Thats the beauty of digital voting: No more secret voting. No paper trail to know the real outcome.
Mexico, Central America?
I don't think so.
Last time such a thing happend was in the 1850 with William Walker and his Fillibusters who where sponsored by the Southern States and had the ultimate goal of enslave Central America under the Southern States rule. To make the story short: They failed establishing the Republic of Sonora (Mexico) and after that they went to invade Central America. In Nicaragua they managed to take over the goverment (due to the political inestability) but when the Costarican president Mora saw the manace because of the multiple skirmishes in the border and the constant threats, he organized an army (the Costarican army didn't even had more than a handful of cannons) and defended the country when war was declared. Incredibly the Costarican army managed to defeat the Fillibusters in Nicaragua (with heavy losses) and with the help of the other Centralamerican countries Walker was defeated and forced out Central America. Whem he returnde with another sponsored force he was captured by the British, handed over to the Hondureans and EXECUTED. That is what happens when you mess wiht Costa Rica and Central America.
One of the best periodic tables I have seen is the one made by late costarican scientist Gil Chaverri (1921-2005) based on electon structure. You can read automatically the electronic configuration of every single element automatically.
By the way: sorry for the lousy pic but 'Gil Chaverri tables' have become scarce lately and I personally do not own one.
http://muweb.millersville.edu/~iannone/TablaChaver ri (in spanish).htm
Slashdot Mirror
Notice: IANAL and i'm not citizen nor resident of the USA (INCORoUSA).
Leaving the 'protect the children' meme aside...
I think it is possible to define most of electronic based text communications under a generic term such as 'email' or 'electronic mail'. In this case, I believe, the judge did uphold the "spirit of the law". Certainly electronic communcations do change constantly: Many have shifted to IM style, which attracts mostly young people because of the inmediate response and increased interactivity between the parts.
Laws should have the >least loopholes possible, or it gives the criminals the chance to evade justice. As I already said, electronic communications are changing forms, and the only way a law can contain a definition is by being broad (which is not necesarily a good thing) or by having judges and juries who give a resonable interpretation to it.
It has been already done. In the Referendum in Venezuela, electronic voting was used exclusively, and a special (propietiary) program was designed by the elections comissions technicians to record every vote (that means each vote assigned to each voter). That data is used by the goverment to hire, fire or punish in many ways public servants from burocrats to judges, thus quenching any oposition. That data has been leaked in CD-ROMs you may buy it in any mayor city and is widely used not only in the goverment but also in the private sector, together with the list of signatures of the people who wanted the referendum. Thats the beauty of digital voting: No more secret voting. No paper trail to know the real outcome.
Mexico, Central America? I don't think so. Last time such a thing happend was in the 1850 with William Walker and his Fillibusters who where sponsored by the Southern States and had the ultimate goal of enslave Central America under the Southern States rule. To make the story short: They failed establishing the Republic of Sonora (Mexico) and after that they went to invade Central America. In Nicaragua they managed to take over the goverment (due to the political inestability) but when the Costarican president Mora saw the manace because of the multiple skirmishes in the border and the constant threats, he organized an army (the Costarican army didn't even had more than a handful of cannons) and defended the country when war was declared. Incredibly the Costarican army managed to defeat the Fillibusters in Nicaragua (with heavy losses) and with the help of the other Centralamerican countries Walker was defeated and forced out Central America. Whem he returnde with another sponsored force he was captured by the British, handed over to the Hondureans and EXECUTED. That is what happens when you mess wiht Costa Rica and Central America.
http://muweb.millersville.edu/~iannone/TablaChaver ri.htm
(bad link in parent)
One of the best periodic tables I have seen is the one made by late costarican scientist Gil Chaverri (1921-2005) based on electon structure. You can read automatically the electronic configuration of every single element automatically. By the way: sorry for the lousy pic but 'Gil Chaverri tables' have become scarce lately and I personally do not own one. http://muweb.millersville.edu/~iannone/TablaChaver ri (in spanish).htm