At 9:25 PM -0800 5/14/97, Declan McCullagh wrote:
Tim wrote:
We're basically under assault from all directions. The bozos in Congress and state governments are spinning out new laws and obscure regulations faster than we can react...and of course they're using our money to generate these laws and lobby for them. Further, a mostly-brainwashed Washington media population is surprising uncritical of these blizzard drifts of new laws.
Hmmm... Do I get counted in the "mostly-brainwashed" category?
No point in naming names. Nearly all reporters covering Washington are essentially "policy wonks" (a term I hate, but it's the jargon du jour). They lose sight of the forest for the trees. Further, nearly all news outlets--the newsweekies, the newspapers, the broadcast networks--want reporters to be somewhat neutral. (Which I don't necessarily disagree with...but it explains why only the most wonkish and "lost in the trees" reporters can tolerate and thrive in a Washington environment. (Declan knows all this, of course, so I'm not teaching him how to suck eggs.) Any reasonable person, whether leftist, rightist, libertarian, or whatever, would respond to the long boring negotiations over bills--the soporific markup Declan described, for example--with a cry of "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." Those who tolerate and thrive in Washington thus must think the "political" issues, the backroom deals, the wheelings and dealings, are worth the boredom. This is why I call them brainwashed. A better term might be "born compromisers." By the way, nothing I saw in the latest version of SAFE is acceptable. And I agree with Declan that it will only get worse. The NSA and FBI will lean on Hyde, on the International Relations committee, and the final version will have murky language about legitimate needs of law enforcement, key recovery, etc. And there is zero chance that arbitrarily strong crypto will be freely exportable. Result? Americans as a whole gain no freedoms not already implicit in the Constitution, pernicious language takes away some existing guaranteed freedoms, NSA gets it wish to control exports, and key recovery is given a boost.
FYI, here are two bills that Feinstein introduced recently:
S. 504. Children's Privacy Protection and Parental Empowerment Act of 1997. Prohibits the sale of personal information about children without their parents' consent. Introduced by Feinstein (D-CA) on 3/20/97. Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
From what I read here, another statist law. If I come into information legally (scenarios left as an exercise for the reader), it is mine to sell, give away, or do with as I please. Period. Crap about "parental empowerment" is just a smokescreen. If parents or children wish to protect certain information, let them not provide it. ("Remember Johnnie, if a man comes up to you and says he's from Child Protective Services and he wants to ask you a few questions, what did I tell you to say to him?" "You mean, 'Fuck off, fascist narc!'?" "Good, Johnnie, good.")
S. 600. Personal Information Privacy Act of 1997. Amends FCRA to prohibit sale on non-public information, prohibits use of SSN as ID number, limits use of SSN on drivers liscenses. Introduced by Feinstein (D-CA) on 4/16/97. Referred to the Committee on Finance.
This sounds OK, as I hate being required by law to give my SS number to so many. (In California it's required for car registration...my SS card says plainly "Not to be used for identification," but this is ignored.) But I fear it makes little difference. The SS number is already so widely linked in data bases that it can be easily found. (Income tax forms are sent to mailing addresses with the SS number prominently in the upper right-hand corner of the damned mailing label!!!!) Swinestein is in general a hopeless case, one who should be retired from government office with extreme prejudice. --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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."