Mr. Gates goes to Washington, from The Netly News
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 12:13:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> To: fight-censorship-announce@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Mr. Gates goes to Washington, from The Netly News ********** http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/opinion/0,1042,1022,00.html The Netly News Network June 5, 1997 Mr. Gates Goes to Washington by Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com) For Siliconaires like Bill Gates of Microsoft, Eric Schmidt of Novell and Jeff Papows of Lotus, Washington is a city made pleasant by absence. They view its labyrinthine bureaucracies and hidebound institutions as something between a minor hindrance and an insurmountable obstacle to the important business of making profits, not public policy. So it was no surprise to see the high-tech trio join seven other executives yesterday at the National Press Club to rail against the Clinton administration's restrictions on overseas sales of encryption products. This Billionaire Boys' Club was especially keen on praising two bills that would generally relax export rules. "We clearly support the House and the Senate bills that are on the Hill in their original form. Getting reform done now is a huge priority for all of us," said one. "There are bills in the House and the Senate that are totally acceptable, and if those bills are passed they'd solve the problem," another added. But perhaps Bill Gates should have spent less time writing BASIC interpreters and more time in civics classes, because these bills are far from perfect. In fact, they may be downright dangerous. [...]
At 12:14 PM -0700 6/5/97, Declan McCullagh wrote: ...
Mr. Gates Goes to Washington by Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com) ... This Billionaire Boys' Club was especially keen on praising two bills that would generally relax export rules. "We clearly support the House and the Senate bills that are on the Hill in their original form. Getting reform done now is a huge priority for all of us," said one. "There are bills in the House and the Senate that are totally acceptable, and if those bills are passed they'd solve the problem," another added.
But perhaps Bill Gates should have spent less time writing BASIC interpreters and more time in civics classes, because these bills are far from perfect. In fact, they may be downright dangerous.
The problem with SAFE is that it is a bill favoring industry while hurting citizens. Unfortunately, the process of "corporate-friendly lawmaking" is nothing new, with examples of giveaways and special favors given to corporations going back into the last century. The problem is made worse by the "camouflage" words like "Center for Democracy andTechnology" in the names of leading advocates of bills like SAFE. Their names make them appear to be civil rights groups, but their actions and funding make them just industry lobbying groups. The crapola we just heard from PGP Inc. about how it was able to export--with the critical detail that it was only for certain favored large corporations left until the bottom of the announcement--shows that lawmaking is just corporate favoritism. As Mussolini so accurately said, "Fascism _is_ corporatism." I'm not an anti-capitalist. Far from it. But I don't believe Microsoft or Intel or any other company can ever have special rights or privileges the rest of us don't have. On the flip side, I don't believe such corporations can have any restrictions placed on them. A law saying Intel has no First Amendment rights would be wrong (just as laws about who companies can or cannot hire are unconstitutional, in my view). --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."
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