A NATION OF FELONS CAN’T HOLD US BACK

ITEM [via Schneier]: According to a new book by civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate, US laws have become so vaguely worded that, on average, every person in America commits three felonies a day.

Under the English common law we inherited, a crime requires intent. This protection is disappearing in the US. As Mr. Silverglate writes, "Since the New Deal era, Congress has delegated to various administrative agencies the task of writing the regulations," even as "Congress has demonstrated a growing dysfunction in crafting legislation that can in fact be understood." Prosecutors identify defendants to go after instead of finding a law that was broken and figuring out who did it. Expect more such prosecutions as Washington adds regulations.

Part of the problem is the ever-escalating rate of technological advancement, and the inability of the creaky, cumbersome legal system to keep up, he says.

In 2001, a man named Bradford Councilman was charged in Massachusetts with violating the wiretap laws. He worked at a company that offered an online book-listing service and also acted as an Internet service provider to book dealers. As an ISP, the company routinely intercepted and copied emails as part of the process of shuttling them through the Web to recipients.

The federal wiretap laws, Mr. Silverglate writes, were "written before the dawn of the Internet, often amended, not always clear, and frequently lagging behind the whipcrack speed of technological change."

No wonder the private prison industry is doing so well.

Partners in crime,

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