Beware of technology-generated outrage. If you can encode a message, image, etc. as a number, some messages, like a communication of a specific threat against a specific person, or certain types of porn, that's going to result in "illegal numbers." When put that way, the outrage is pretty weak.<p>It is legitimate and provably effective to legally limit the demand for some items, like ivory, for example, by making it contraband, interdicting trade, and punishing possession.<p>So what is the outrage actually about? A lot of it is about corporations asserting property rights in publishing and enforcing those supposed rights in ways that result in bad decisions, bad designs, bad products, insecure systems, and bad uses of law enforcement related to computing.<p>The solution isn't to "make all numbers legal" because that's not the question. The solution is to address the problems in the real world, where they make sense. Limit copyright terms. Limit laws to publisher-scale theft for profit. And that boils down to nerfing corporate money in politics.