On Thu, 25 Jan 1996, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
hallam@w3.org writes:
There is a considerable difference between running a government and being an individual. It is not merely ethical for one government to read another's mail, it is a duty.
I am a funny sort of person. I don't believe that governments should be able to do anything that individuals cannot. If it is bad for me to steal, it is also bad for a government official to steal. If it is bad for me to listen in on my neighbor's phone calls, it is bad for the government, too.
Er, I believe the above was clearly intended to mean "for one government to read another government's mail." ...
I do not mean to pretend that there is an absolute ethics. I merely claim that I do not find in my mind an easy distinction between the acts of a government official under color of authority and the acts of any other individual.
How about: It is the ethical duty of a responsible government to read other government's mail, absent any treaties or gentlemen's agreements to the contrary. It is the ethical duty of a responsible government not to read its own citizens' mail without specific probable cause that a crime has occurred or is imminent. It is the ethical duty of responsible citizens to read their own government's mail, to ensure that their government is behaving ethically. The knotty bits concern how much of its own mail the government needs to disclose, because you can't really disclose it to your own citizens without effectively disclosing it to the whole world. And how much the government can lie, cheat, and steal in purely international affairs. I'd answer "a lot" to both. -rich Fucking Statist