At 5:00 PM -0600 2/11/01, Aimee Farr wrote:
Declan said:
society has instead adopted and then accepted the Internet. It's difficult to be repulsed by something when you use it to share baby pictures with grandparents.
Yes, and we are starting to regulate the hell out of it. Outside of a generic "Internet" sense....crypto is viewed as more threatening -- not simply a conduit, but a means. The next domestic terrorist kaboom! is going to have "bought to you by crypto" stenciled all over it by the US guvmint. Our demographics don't speak of technosophisticates.
Agreed. (I will not say "So? We've been saying this for years. See my "Four Horseman" point of 1992-3 or so.") Those who want crypto outlawed have been trumpeting crypto uses by terrorists, pedophiles, money launderers, and other thought criminals for the past decade. Nothing very new or interesting in the latest round, save that the New Team is now attempting to lay the groundwork for New Laws.
... I agree, but you yourself stated that the average American isn't that concerned about privacy and won't purchase privacy enhancing technologies. (In a general privacy sense, I don't see a lot of "privacy reclamation." I do see a lot of notice provisions -- the functional equivalent of placing 99% of Americans in a social-adhesion contract.) I don't think it's conservative. I think it is a new and unusual threat - to the majority of Americans.
Come on, Aimee, do some background reading. The "average American" is, and has long been, of two minds: -- "what have you got to hide?" and -- "none of your damned business!" Both views are present in most Americans. An observation I made here nearly a decade ago. I welcome your participation here, provided you don't rant about the list being "estrogen-deficient," but, really, these basic points are well-trod ground.
Of course, you have all watched this battle for many years, so you have a longevity of insight that I don't have. Probably just the same-ole-same-ole to you, while it seems more dramatic to me.
Ah, good to see you recognize the situation. --Tim May -- Timothy C. May tcmay@got.net Corralitos, California Political: Co-founder Cypherpunks/crypto anarchy/Cyphernomicon Technical: physics/soft errors/Smalltalk/Squeak/agents/games/Go Personal: b.1951/UCSB/Intel '74-'86/retired/investor/motorcycles/guns