http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41008,00.html Top Cop Arrives With Mixed Bag by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com) 2:00 a.m. Jan. 5, 2001 PST For liberal Democrats, John Ashcroft is a maddening symbol of everything wrong with a George W. Bush presidency -- from the former senator's staunch opposition to abortion to his alleged insensitivity regarding race. To conservatives, Bush's nominee for attorney general represents precisely the opposite extreme: A respected leader who will restore integrity to a Justice Department brought low by the Clinton administration. Ashcroft opposes background checks at gun shows, supports increased penalties for drug offenses and would not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. On technology issues, Ashcroft's record as a Missouri governor and senator is mixed. He seems genuinely to believe in privacy rights and economic liberty, and has taken a moderate position on intellectual property and fair-use rights. But free-speech groups already are girding themselves for the legal equivalent of trench warfare, predicting that newly emboldened Department of Justice prosecutors will launch an assault on sexually explicit material online. And Microsoft foes fret that the antitrust division's commitment to the high-profile antitrust case may wane. On one point everyone can agree: More than any other Cabinet member, the next attorney general will be in a position to make crucial decisions with far-reaching effects on antitrust enforcement, privacy protections and free speech rights. "An Ashcroft DOJ could be a decidedly mixed bag for the high-tech sector since he will be engaged in a constant balancing act on most industry issues," says Adam Thierer, an analyst at the free-market Cato Institute who's well connected in Republican technology circles. "While Ashcroft has a very strong record of support for loosening encryption controls, he may be faced with pressure from GOP law-and-order types to moderate his views on this and also be willing to continue, or even expand FBI efforts like Carnivore," Thierer said. Make that a near certainty. It's a fair bet that pro-law enforcement conservatives in the mold of wiretap-happy Rep. Bill McCollum of Florida, who unsuccessfully ran for the state's open Senate seat, will view a Republican DOJ as an opportunity to expand government surveillance and wiretapping powers. Liberal Democrats have vowed opposition to Ashcroft's nomination -- People for the American Way even assembled a detailed criticism of the nominee -- but privately confide that they don't expect to successfully block his confirmation by the Senate. Wiretapping and Carnivore: Under Attorney General Janet Reno, a DOJ panel has reviewed the FBI's controversial Carnivore surveillance system and extended a tentative blessing. But critics panned the review board as uniformly pro-government, as first reported by Wired News, and independent researchers refused to participate in the process. Ashcroft is the former two-term attorney general and two-term governor of Missouri. During his time there, he cemented his reputation as a solid conservative eager to lower taxes and build new prisons. [...] ----- End forwarded message -----