At 07:53 PM 9/4/2001 -0400, Declan McCullagh wrote:
[...] 2. Since the people enforcing this hypothetical law are the same people with the greatest incentives to violate it, what makes a disinterested observer believe that it will be effective? If we're not interested in effectiveness, why don't we just pass a law saying "no more police brutality" or "no cop shall violate someone's civil liberties?"
I think this goes a little too far (though I'm also pretty skeptical about the underlying proposal). True, it's very unlikely that cops will arrest themselves for violating a mandatory disclosure law - expecting any group to reliably self-police is unrealistic. It would not be practically, impossible, to enforce such a provision the same way that parts of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth amendments are - by making evidence which has been gathered illegally unavailable in court. That sanction isn't intended to be punitive - it just removes (some of) the motivation to engage in the forbidden activity. -- Greg Broiles gbroiles@well.com "We have found and closed the thing you watch us with." -- New Delhi street kids