At 9:26 PM -0700 9/11/97, bureau42 Anonymous Remailer wrote:
Does anyone know if the government has released any firm figures on the number of lives that would be saved from terrorist activities with the outlawing of strong encryption and mandatory key escrow?
If we had the proper figures to work with then we could make a valid judgment as to how many lives anti-GAK supporters would have to put in danger in order to tip the balance so that it would be in the best interests of the citizens to allow strong non-GAK'ed crypto. I, for one, would hate to see lives lost needlessly merely because those opposing GAK did not have the proper figures to work with.
This is a worthless and dangerous argument to make. If you can't see why, you have no business writing articles on this list. Hint: "The greatest good for the greatest number" is passe. --Tim May
I think that in the interests of the greatest number of citizens, the government should supply solid figures as to the body count that would be required to negate the need for laws against strong encryption. Also, the government should provide a separate figure for how many lives of legislators would need to be lost in order to balance the threat of strong encryption. I imagine that it would take far fewer Congressman's lives to balance it out than it would average citizen's lives.
Call your Congressman and ask if these figures are available. In order to get the most help possible, begin the conversation by asking the Congressman if he is in favor of saving lives.
BeanCounter
There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."