[LINK] Oh gawd - "capable of" now is a crime!

[Adam Todd]

We really can't let this go without a comment.

It now seems to be a crime to possess things "capable of" committing a 
crime, even if there is no intent, or proof that the crime is 
committed.  (Actually, legally intent to commit a crime isn't committing a 
crime, until it's committed, Police won't prosecute people who make 
threats, until they act on the threat - well unless you are me, then the 
mere thought that someone has that I made a threat is enough to have 
allegedly committed a crime!  Police v Todd January 2004, Dismissed - of 
course.)

Now the issue I have is that ANY high resolution printer is capable of 
producing any document in replication and gosh you can buy laminating 
machines at Woolies!

Maybe it should be illegal to sell an item that may be capable of producing 
a counterfeit!

I recently made copies of my families birth certificates.  I scanned them 
on a scanner printer.  A cheap one you buy at, for example, the Australia 
Post (my theme of the month!  Sorry Josh!).

They copied in colour and printed in normal paper.  Even the water marks on 
the back of the pages copied perfectly, on a first glance.  A much closer 
look and you can tell it's not a water mark.

Anyway, I accidently took the copies to the destination and submitted them, 
thinking they were the originals.  The person made photocopies and gave 
them back to me.  It wasn't until I got home and my wife asked why I'd left 
the certificates behind that I realised what had happened.

Making ID cards is just as easy.  Plastic card printers are cheap and easy 
to get, gosh look on ebay for one that can be delivered tomorrow!

Possessing something that is capable of something does not make it a 
crime.  Farmers possess guns, does that mean every farmer is guilty of 
possessing a weapon that is capable of murder?

Having a Mobile phone means you are capable of making a phone call, does 
that mean you are guilty of being capable of making a phone call under 85ZE 
of the Crimes Act?

We need to get real in this country, not draconian.







Man charged over fake driver licence scam

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October 21, 2006 - 9:15AM
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A 50-year-old Artarmon man has been charged with producing fake NSW driver 
licences.

Police searched a property at Annandale in Sydney's inner west on Friday 
and seized a computer, a scanner, two sophisticated card printers, a 
laminating machine, more than 4000 blank cards and several partially 
completed NSW driver licences.

Police will allege the printing equipment seized had the capacity to create 
high quality counterfeits in commercial quantities.

The man has been charged with possessing an instrument capable of creating 
a false document and possessing fake documents.

He will appear in Parramatta Court today and has been refused bail.

AAP