Today, Monday, July 29, Dorothy Denning begins her debate vs. John Gilmore over The Absolute Right to Privacy on Wired Online's Brain Tennis site. Do citizens of the world have an "unalienable right" to privacy - or are there reasons why governments ought to have access to our communications? This debate will run daily through August 7. Follow along at http://www.wired.com/braintennis/. To get into the debate yourself, go to: http://www.hotwired.com/cgi-bin/interact/replies_all?msg.21655 An excerpt of Dorothy's first post today: "I'm not ready to accept 'the cat is out of the bag.' Let's look for a way of enjoying the benefits of encryption without unnecessarily hindering the ability of law enforcement to perform its mission. Let's use encryption for privacy, but also give law enforcement access to communications and computer files when there is probable cause and a judge has issued a court order. In some cases, that access must be surreptitious. Imagine the FBI calling a family boss and saying 'Give me your keys so I can wiretap your phone!'" John Gilmore's first post follows tomorrow. See you there. Best, Roderick Simpson rod@wired.com Wired Online