[Infowarrior] - Gov't won't classify proxies as 'sophisticated'

[Richard Forno]

(via IP)

Gov't won't classify proxies as 'sophisticated'

http://www.wral.com/news/technology/story/4961227/

By JORDAN ROBERTSON
AP Technology Writer
Posted: Apr. 15, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. government has dropped - for now - a plan to
classify the use of "proxy" servers as evidence of sophistication in
committing a crime.

Proxy servers are computers that disguise the source of Internet
traffic. They are commonly used for legitimate purposes, like evading
Internet censors and working from home. But they can also be used to
hide from law enforcement.


The Washington-based U.S. Sentencing Commission was considering a
change to federal sentencing guidelines that would have increased
sentences by about 25 percent for people convicted of crimes in which
proxies are used to hide the perpetrators' tracks.

But after digital-rights advocates complained that the proposed
language was too broad, the commission struck the controversial
language from the amendments it voted on Wednesday.

....

The Justice Department supported the proposed amendment as a way to
hand down stiffer sentences for people who set up elaborate proxy
networks - sometimes in multiple countries - to commit crimes and hide
their identities.