Folks -- I object to the characterization of my remarks about crime

You're entitled to any spin you wish (see your [...] below). But my original intent was to say the part about "and it is" in any event; unfortunately, the audience started snickering before I got to it. In the future, I will say "Crime prevention ought to be, and is, a part of the FBI's mission", thereby pre-empting premature snickering by an audience pre-disposed to be unfriendly or derisive to law enforcement. Begin personal comment from herb: The "overview and recommendations" document summarizing the report notes that "Input from [..] diverse sources demonstrated to the committee a considerable amount of confrontation and disconnect between interest groups (e.g., information technology vendors, businesses, law enforcement, private individuals, national security) that fail to understand or appreciate the validity of each other's policy needs and interests with respect to cryptography. . . . Public debate based on hyperbole is unproductive. All of the stakes described above -- privacy for individuals, protection of sensitive or proprietary information for businesses, ensuring the continuing reliability and integrity of nationally critical information systems and networks, law enforcement access to stored and communicated information for purposes of investigating and prosecuting crime, and national security access to information stored or communicated by foreign powers or other entities and organizations whose interests and intentions are relevant to the national security and the foreign policy interests of the United Statesare legitimate; informed public discussion of the issues must begin by acknowledging the legitimacy both of information security for law-abiding individuals and businesses and of information gathering for law enforcement and national security purposes." My experience with the FBI and other law enforcement officials is that they are honorable people trying to do a very hard job. You may disagree with them on policy grounds -- indeed, the NRC report does disagree with the Administration in certain important ways -- but in my personal opinion, law enforcement deserves credit rather than censure for trying to anticipate a future problem, You may believe the proposed solution to be inappropriate, but I'd ask those of you who follow the debate to engage it on substantive rather than ad hominem grounds, Many of you in the cypherpunk community have done so, and I applaud such efforts. [End personal comment] herb == On Wed, 3 Jul 1996, Herb Lin wrote: prevention > being made with sarcasm. The complete remark was "Crime prevention ought > to be part of the FBI's mission, ... and it is -- ask them, and they acknowledge

that."

OK, sorry, my reading. I'd certainly hate to jeopardize any professional relationships by implying that you'd been poking fun at them on purpose. There's already far too much distrust to go around. As I recall, the sequence went "Crime prevention ought to be part of the FBI's mission [audience snickers, Herb realizes what he just said and smiles]... and it is -- ask them, and they acknowledge that." The best standup comics are the genuine straight men, I guess. To avoid any trouble, I'll be using that line *without* specific attribution from now on. -rich