As Karl Marx said also, "Democracy is a slow form of communism." That's why the forfathers decided to make us a republic, something many have forgotten. ---HyperReal-Anon <nobody@sind.hyperreal.art.pl> wrote:

"Phillip Hallam-Baker" <hallam@ai.mit.edu> writes

John Gilmore may be right, but remember folks that in Europe we have this thing the Greeks invented called democracy. One of the ideas of democracy is that decisions are not made in secret closed meetings.

Yes, and people democratically demand government enforcement of the majority will, something made more difficult if the subjects have strong cryptography.

As Donn Parker observed several years ago, strong cryptography is inconsistent with democracy. (Published in Scientific American --- reference on request.)

John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com> writes

Some countries actually seem to care what their citizens think about their crypto laws, unlike the shining example of democracy, the USSA. And when we educate the citizens, they tend to make the right choices. Let's keep trying.

But don't educate them too much, or they will understand that cryptography can set people free, and if people were free there would be no political government, and if there were no political government their social security checks would stop coming, along with all their other government ``benefits''.

== Ogre bounces like sonar. . .Peace. Ogre _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com