At 12:04 PM 9/3/96 -0700, Stanton McCandlish wrote:
I, unlike EFF, have never compromised my efforts to make strong crypto, unescrowed strong crypto, and digitial communications, free from the FUD spouted by government and media alike. I, unlike EFF, have never compromised my efforts to resist the expansion of a wiretap state. I, unlike EFF, have never proported to be a political represenative for these positions and folded under the weakest of pressures like a reed.
EFF has done none of that either.
Compromise: 1. a settlement in which each side gives up some demands or makes concessions. 2. a) an adjustment of opposing principles, systems, etc., by modifying some aspects of each b) the result of such an adjustment. 3. something midway between two other things 4. a) exposure, as of one's reputation, to danger, suspicion, or disrepute b) a weakening, as of one's principles, ideals, etc.) as for reasons of expediency.
1 did not occur. EFF yielded nothing on any of the issues you mention. On Digital Telephony, which you clearly allude to, EFF opposed implementation of the wiretapping provisions of the CALEA bill from start to finish, and was instrumental in stripping most of them out, replacing them with new privacy protections. 2 did not occur. Our mission remains unedited from the day it was adopted, and EFF is just as committed to those principles now as ever. We don't have a system, in the relevant sense, as such. There was no such adjustment, ergo no result of one. 3 does not apply in any relevant sense (our steadfast assault against the CDA is a "compromise" under such a definition because it was neither a total victory, nor a total loss - yet I'm certain this is not the definition of "compromise" that you intend). 4a is not relevant (that's the security/secrecy-related definition, a nonsequitur in this context). 4b is simply a restatement of 2a - simply didn't happen. Our results speak for themselves on this.
Compromise is not necessarily a bad thing; without some give and take, we sorta run right over each other. OTOH, I do agree that a strong position is necessary at this juncture. -- Jon Lebkowsky http://www.well.com/~jonl jonl@hotwired.com