I simply had to pass this article along to c'punks... Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk From: milles@fi.gs.com (Stevens Miller) Subject: NSA remarks at "Lawyers and the Internet" Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 17:04:33 GMT I'm a computer programmer and attorney who is a member of the Committee on Technology and the Practice of Law, a task force assembled by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Last Friday we held a conference on "Lawyers and the Internet." Approximately 200 lawyers attended. Speaking in favor of the Clipper proposal was Stuart Baker of the NSA. I won't repeat his substantial arguments, but his formal approach (which Mike Godwin tells me is becoming a standard component of the government's pro-Clipper road show) is worth some attention. Parroting his own words at CFP, Baker told us: - The debate over the Clipper proposal is "really just a culture clash among net-heads." - Those opposing the proposal are late-coming counter-culturists, "who couldn't go to Woodstock because they had to do their trig homework." - Opponents envision themselves as would-be "cybernauts in bandoliers and pocket-protectors." I quote these remarks (as best I can from memory; my hands were shaking too much to write clearly at this point) to make it clear that our government's representative has reached a conclusion about the community opposing its plan. He has concluded that the members of that community are so beneath his respect that it is more appropriate to make fun of them than it is to respond to their views. As Godwin pointed out later, the NSA really just doesn't care what anyone says. That, he said, is why Baker repeatedly invokes the spectre of child-molestation as the chief evil Clipper will prevent; by that invocation is much meritorious debate deflected. Baker replied to this by emphasizing the reality of the pedophilia potential of networks, telling us that many users of networks "are teenaged boys with inept social skills." Regardless of the law-enforcement potential of this plan, it is worth noting that an official spokesman for the government endorses it by pointing out that its opponents valued their studies more highly than they did rock and roll. That because the popular image of the bookworm can be juxtaposed against that of Rambo in a funny way, bookworms don't have to be taken seriously. That if you play with computers as a youngster, your community, your parents and your own brain can't save you. That the government must protect you from your own ineptitude, whether you want its help or not. The message was pretty clear: Stuart Baker doesn't care what you say, but he wants the power to listen. --- Stevens R. Miller |"The complete truth is not the (212) 227-1594 | prerogative of the human judge." sharp@echonyc.com | New York, New York | - Supreme Court of Israel