Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of law, culture, technology, and politics. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.

So I read the Massachusetts attorney general's press release about the 
Aqua Teen Hunger Force lights:
http://www.ago.state.ma.us/sp.cfm?pageid=986&id=1803

And was interested in what law the "only hair questions" guys are 
charged with violating. I've placed the statute here:
http://politechbot.com/docs/massachusetts.infernal.hoax.device.020107.txt

The law is actually one prohibiting "infernal machines." No, I am not 
making this up. Yes, only in Massachusetts.

Some "infernal machine" cases going back to 1971 are here:
http://politechbot.com/docs/massachusetts.infernal.machine.cases.020107.txt

Each dealt with an actual destructive device, and harmless LED 
advertisements don't seem to qualify. Here's my writeup of the situation:
http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-6155806.html

-Declan

Posted by Declan McCullagh on Feb 02, 2007 in category free-speech

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