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Re: A 12 Crime w/in & Crime w/out--Ehlers Remark

Carl Ellison (cme@tis.com) Fri Aug 25 17:35:42 1995 (GMT)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As I believe Congressman Ehlers pointed out, there is crime in cyberspace and it is likely to remain a threat forever.

I refer here to incidents like the Russian hacker's theft of $400,000.

I do not refer to the use of cyberspace to violate some local ordinance in the physical world (the prosecution of the California AA BBS based on the local standards in some Eastern state (Tenn?)).

My company is in the business of protecting people from attacks within cyberspace and I believe, personally, that as long as cryptographic policy is made rational, we citizens and businesses can mount an effective defense against these threats. This is not an issue of using deadly force in defense. Because we don't threaten the attacker in return, there is no need for a specially empowered force (a police force) controlled by an elected government to achieve this protection. This is an issue of building good walls and doors -- a strictly defensive action which is appropriate for individuals and companies to do without government involvement.

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-- Carl M. Ellison cme@tis.com http://www.clark.net/pub/cme/home.html Trusted Information Systems, Inc. http://www.tis.com/ 3060 Washington Road PGP 2.6.2: 61E2DE7FCB9D7984E9C8048BA63221A2 Glenwood MD 21738 Tel:(301)854-6889 FAX:(301)854-5363