Hmmm.
Texas:
78(R) SB 1116 - - Bill Text is one of the bills mentioned on a site called
Freedom to Tinker
(thanks sc4r4b) as an example of proposed legislation that they say will make it
illegal to use a firewall! I am not a lawyer (though I play one on TV), so I
can't say for sure their interpretation of this is correct, but it certainly
seems to be supported by the language in the bill(s). Here's an excerpt:
The
states of Massachusetts and Texas are preparing to consider bills that
apparently are intended to extend the national Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
(TX bill;
MA bill)
The bills are obviously related to each other somehow, since they are textually
similar.
Here is one example of the far-reaching harmful effects of these bills. Both
bills would flatly ban the possession, sale, or use of technologies that
"conceal from a communication service provider ... the existence or place
of origin or destination of any communication". Your ISP is a (communication)
service provider, so anything that concealed the origin or destination of any
communication from your ISP would be illegal -- with no exceptions.
If you encrypt your email, you're in violation, because the "To" line
of the email is concealed from your ISP by encryption. If you use a secure
connection to pick up your email, you're in violation, because the
"From" lines of the incoming emails are concealed from your ISP by the
encrypted connection.
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