[I've been away from my computer, else I would've responded to Ernest's post earlier.] At 11:10 AM -0800 5/2/97, Ernest Hua wrote:
In short, they can get what they want instantly, while we cannot except through a long and arduous process (during which they can throw many procedural and lobbying obstacles to slow us down). The process is clearly in THEIR favor (and not without good reason), and we must face that fact.
Yes, and they keep throwing out new proposals (Clipper I, II, and III, Key Recovery Initiative, Trusted Third Parties, blah blah). Not to mention Digital Telephony, iterations of the copyright law, and ambiguous legislation about terrorism and assistance to terrorists. They can generate laws far faster than we can mount political counter-efforts, especially since the lobbying agencies (FBI, NSA, Commerce, FCC, FDA, SEC, etc.) are using _our_ stolen money to pay for these lobbying efforts. It's hopeless to fight them on their own turf, as they hold most of the cards (and we paid for them).
It takes just one Om Shinri Kyo (sp?) in any nation to convince its leaders to pass knee-jerk panic legislation in the name of security, and it's the fault of politics at the beck and call of human nature (not just stupid politicians).
And this will happen regardless of whether SAFE passes or not. As several of us have pointed out, SAFE contains prominently mentioned provisions for the stoppage of crypto exports (and maybe even domestic distribution) should terrorism or military diversions be linked. (Stuff about the EEPA, for example.) When a nut shot up a schoolyard, we lost our basic right to buy basic firearms. (The same thing happened in Australia and Britain, too. Almost as if there's a script being followed. "Save the children" is the passphrase for removing liberties.) When it was _suspected_ that a bomb took the TWA flight down, look what happened to the liberties of travellers in public places. As Ernest notes, all it will take is one _major_ terrorist incident for many of the remaining liberties to vanish in a period of a few weeks. Had the World Trade Center bombs succeeded (in bringing down one of the towers), this would have done it. When freedom fighters ultimately succeed in, say, killing 5000 Londoners in a Sarin or Ricin attack in the Tube, expect dramatic moves in all Western nations to sharply curtail civil liberties. There is no hope that legal measures can maintain liberty. Only technological bypasses of the State can succeed. --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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."