Addressing a workshop on how far society should go in trading off privacy for effective law enforcement, McDonald said privacy activists had fought any balance in proposed encryption legislation.
... Extreme privacy positions were ultimately elitist and nondemocratic in that they presumed the views of a knowing privacy cognoscenti should pre-empt the views of the nation's elected officials and the Supreme Court, McDonald said.
This reminds me of the state legislature that tried to change the value of pi to something simpler in order to help students struggling with their homework. Fortunately, someone had the good sense to bring in a "knowing mathematics cognoscenti" to pound some sense into the politicians.
Extremists presumed that the citizens could not trust the elected government and the Supreme Court to make decisions or to correct mistakes if any are made, McDonald said.
Where is Thomas Jefferson when you really need him? Martin Minow minow@apple.com