Replying to a message of Ross Cassell to Bob Ackley:

 DC>>> That still doesn't get to the bottom line:  Not all home business
 DC>>> are legal.

 BA>> Prostitution, to cite one example. 

 RC> Thats taking it to an extreme...

 RC> Forgetting the "Home" part, not every business is legal either, so
 RC> what is your point?

 RC> Can you setup a wallboard factory and use asbestos?

You can't set up a wallboard factory in your house and not use asbestos.

 RC> Can you setup a pharmacy in the towns business district and sell
 RC> heroin?

Actually, doing that used to be perfectly legal.  Heroin was at one time
a prescribable medication, it was also an ingredient in laudanum, which
was an alcohol based substance.

 RC> Obviously the answer is no, but these examples by extension dont make
 RC> all businesses illegal on the sole basis of 2 radical examples.

 RC> Telecommuting isnt illegal either, most who do do not do anything more
 RC> than those who dont as far as comings and goings, by that I mean,
 RC> they still have to go run lifes normal errands, the only thing one
 RC> might notice is the car sits in the driveway moreso than normal
 RC> during the 9-5 norm.

Telecommuting in and of itself I have no problem with.  Somewhere the 
telecommuting morphed into home-based businesses.

At one time my employer allowed me the ability to dial in to the hospital's
computer system from home if they were having a problem.  The reason was
that I kept my night shift hours on my nights off and calling me at 0300
wasn't going to wake me up.  If I got called I got 2 hours pay, but I did not
get the normal stipend for being on call.  I could usually dial in and fix or
accurately diagnose the problem; if I couldn't fix it then the on-call people
got waked up.

Omaha is (or hopefully was) home to a large number of telemarketers.  Some
of the inbound telemarketing outfits (you call them) set some of their people
up at home with whatever was needed (phone line, high speed data link, etc.)
and they worked from home.  Dunno if they paid their home workers by the hour
or by the minutes spent on the phone.

Note that unions and the government labor department people do not LIKE to
have people working out of their homes.  It's too hard to organize or control
them.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+