Apparently the legislators in Louisiana feel that crimes committed with an electronic map are much more serious than those committed with the aid of paper maps. Not just some of them, the vote in the Louisiana House approved it unanimously (89-0).

If a “virtual street-level map” is used in the commission of ordinary crimes, a mandatory additional year must be added to the sentence. In cases of terrorism, the penalty is 10 years.

This should prove a boon to the sellers of Thomas Bros. high resolution map books.

The unanimous nature of this decision makes it clear the degree to which our leaders lack any political spine. They are obviously concerned that voting against this will appear “soft on crime” despite the fact that this will have no real impact at all, and is trivial to circumvent. It is a waste of time and attention on what Bruce Schneier calls “Security Theater”.

- Lance Cottrell