It's reductionist nonsense, just as much as it's nonsense to say that certain weapons are an "illegal arrangement of atoms" or poisoning someone is an "illegal sequence of chemical reactions" or weaponized anthrax is an "illegal sequence of DNA."
NB: I'm not in favor of making certain kinds of encryption illegal, or DeCSS like tools. I'm also not in favor of making the meat-space equivalent, burglars' tools, illegal. There's nothing special about numbers.
NB: I'm not in favor of making certain kinds of encryption illegal, or DeCSS like tools. I'm also not in favor of making the meat-space equivalent, burglars' tools, illegal. There's nothing special about numbers.