[lug] off topic, spam laws

[Jeffrey Siegal]

Peter Hutnick wrote:
> I think that everything you said here is true.  But (like so many laws) it
> doesn't make any sense.
> 
> If I may draw a metaphor . . . Leaving your front door unlocked is foolish,
> but should you have to show a bugler the door and ask him not to return
> before it becomes a crime?

A public mail server is not a private home.  If the computer system in
question were not providing any services to the public, it would be
different, and any access at all could be criminal.  

The situation with a public mail server is more like a store or other
business, which is open to the public but can (in most cases), order
someone off the premises and file criminal tresspass charges if they
return.