TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Last Laugh! Re: Texas Officials Wary of Plan to Hunt by Internet

Last Laugh! Re: Texas Officials Wary of Plan to Hunt by Internet

RobertPlattBell (robertbell@erols.com)
19 Nov 2004 14:04:55 -0800

You think Internet HUNTING is bad? Take the concept to its logical
conclusion ... (some fun with cut and paste techniques).

By Jeff Franks

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Killers soon may be able to sit at their computers
and blast away at people in an unnamed third-world country via the
Internet, a prospect that has human rights activists up in arms.

A controversial Web site, http://www.live-shot.com, already offers
target practice with a .22 caliber rifle and could soon let Killers
shoot at women and children, site creator John Underwood said on
Tuesday.

U.S. Government officials are not quite sure what to make of
Underwood's Web site, but may tweak existing laws to make sure
Internet killing does not get out of hand.

"This is the first one I've seen," said senior FBI agent Mike Berger.
"The current state statutes don't cover this sort of thing."

Underwood, an estimator for a San Antonio, Texas auto body shop, has
invested $10,000 to build a platform for a rifle and camera that can
be remotely aimed on his 330-acre (133-hectare) estate located in an
undisclosed third-world country, by anyone on the Internet anywhere in
the world.

The idea came last year while viewing another Web site on which
cameras posted in in various third-world countries are used to snap
photos of people. "We were looking at a beautiful young Hispanic girl
and my friend said 'If you just had a gun for that.' A little light
bulb went off in my head," he said.

Internet killing could be popular with the disabled unable to get out
of the house who still want to experience a "thrill kill", or for
those who cannot afford a trip to third-world countries to commit
murders, Underwood said.

Berger said state law only covers "regulated people" such as U.S.
Citizens within the United States and cannot prevent Underwood from
offering Internet kills of "unregulated" people such as foreigners
located in distant lands.

He has proposed a rule that will come up for public discussion in
January that anyone killing people via Internet, even if the victim is
in a foreign land, could be tried for murder in the State.

Berger expressed reservations about remote control killing, but noted
that humans have always adopted new technologies to kill.

"First it was rocks and clubs, then we sharpened it and put it on a
stick. Then there was the bow and arrow, black powder, smokeless power
and optics," Berger said. "Maybe this is the next technological step
out there."

Underwood, 39, said he will offer human killing as soon as he gets a
fast Internet connection to his third world estate that will enable
killers to aim the rifle quickly at passing people.

He said an attendant would retrieve shot people for the shooters, who
could have the heads preserved by a taxidermist. They could also have
the meat processed and shipped home, or donated to orphanages.

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