
James A. Donald wrote:
At 03:27 PM 7/20/96 -0700, Tom Weinstein wrote:
Why not consider what the consequences will be? Do you seriously believe that this will make the government stop enforcing ITAR?
Yes:
Widespread politically motivated disobedience forces the state to either demonize the disobedient, (as with drug users) or give up enforcement. This is a standard and effective method of forcing the repeal of laws, a method which has had a long record of success for several hundred years.
A handful of cyperpunks hardly constitutes "widespread polititcally motivated disobedience". In any case, the demonization has already begun; they point their fingers at the four horsemen of the internet at every oportunity. What I object to is anonymous activists who perform acts at no risk to themselves which make it harder for those of us who are trying to bring strong crypto to everyone.
The states cohesion derives from its legitimacy, and threats to legitimacy and cohesion are treated very seriously by government officials.
Threatening the states legitimacy is arguably more effective in influencing government behavior than blowing up federal office buildings.
The first step is to create at least a strong minority. A handful of cypherpunks can be largely ignored. We have to get the general public using and educated about strong crypto before civil disobedience will mean anything. -- You should only break rules of style if you can | Tom Weinstein coherently explain what you gain by so doing. | tomw@netscape.com