[File under the "be careful what you ask for" heading] At 12:58 AM 7/20/96, jim bell wrote:

At 02:33 PM 7/19/96 -0400, Duncan Frissell wrote:

...

In a "briefing" on TWA 800 when one of the reporters tossed Big Jim Kellstrom (Deputy Director in Charge of the New York Office) of the FBI a softball question about what he needed to fight terrorism; he took the opportunity to call for full funding of the Digital Telephony Bill. He said the usual about how bad guys conspire and we need to tap.

Too bad these people aren't required to show specific examples where the "bad guys" got away as a result of their failure to be able to do wiretaps.

I don't think asking for this evidence is a good idea. After all, there probably _are_ such examples. It stands to reason. But so what? The issue is not whether extensive wiretapping would catch certain conspirators and head off certain crimes, the issue is one of how liberal and free societies are to operate. Our system has frowned upon such Orwellian schemes as mandating that video cameras be placed in all residences and in all hotel rooms, regardless of whether certain crimes would be detected or deterred. The proper argument is not to demand proof of how useful such measures as the FBI would like to see are, but, rather, to focus on basic rights issues. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."