Tim wasn't entirely correct in June. McKain-Kerrey isn't the most extreme, reprehensible bill: That honor goes to the Oxley amendment and the SAFE version that Intelligence approved. (They would ban the manufacture, distribution of non-backdoored crypto.) This is the danger of entrusting our civil liberties to legislatures, which are inherently anti-civil libertarian. No new legislation is better than bad new legislation. Something close to McCain-Kerrey could well emerge as the "Grand Compromise." -Declan ------- Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 20:52:55 -0400 To: fight-censorship-announce@vorlon.mit.edu From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> Subject: FC: On crypto -- "The Grand Compromise is Coming" [A House international relations subcommittee this afternoon approved Rep. Goodlatte's SAFE bill by a 14-1 vote, with some amendments. Rep. Doug Bereuter (R-Neb.) voted against it on "national security" grounds. Details to follow. --Declan] ***************** Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 12:33:38 -0700 To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net> Subject: The Grand Compromise is Coming At 11:43 AM -0700 6/24/97, Declan McCullagh wrote:

Yeah, I'm going to the markup later this afternoon. I ran into Goodlatte in the Capitol this morning; he seemed cautiously optimistic.

The terrible, terrible S.909 McCain-Kerrey bill is probably a negotiating card in the coming Grand Compromise. When even editorial writers for the Establishment Papers are against it, when industry is against it so vocally, it won't pass the full Congress. But it will have served its purpose. It will make many groups _satisfied_ to reach "a compromise we can all live with." The various cyber-rights [sic] groups will probably trumpet this as a victory, as "the best we could get." Somewhere between SAFE, a bad bill, and McCain-Kerrey, a reprehensible bill, lies the Grand Compromise. I reject it all. --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." ***************** From: Eric Murray <ericm@lne.com> Subject: Re: The Grand Compromise is Coming To: tcmay@got.net Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 14:02:11 -0700 (PDT) Cc: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM Tim May writes:

The terrible, terrible S.909 McCain-Kerrey bill is probably a negotiating card in the coming Grand Compromise.

Yes. The tactic will be to use S.909 in negotiation to represent a 'fair' government-oriented solution. Then 'compromise' with a 'balanced' deal which includes all that the government really wants, with a few of the more onerous bits taken out of S.909 as 'compromise'. As Declan notes, Congress is driven to compromise. The government side can propose ever more draconian laws in order to engineer the 'compromise' to whatever it wants. On the other side, we are stuck, because we have been asking for things that we really want, not bargaining chips. Even if we were to ask for bargaining chips that are more than we really want, how much further than completely free crypto can you go? The government wins any game of compromise because it can push its side as far as it wants, then demand that we meet halfway.

It will make many groups _satisfied_ to reach "a compromise we can all live with." The various cyber-rights [sic] groups will probably trumpet this as a victory, as "the best we could get."

They will make it out as a victory ("send us more money") but in reality it'll just be a little less of a defeat. The rejectionist stance has the presumption that, if unwatched, the government will pass a law so onerous that the people will rise up in protest. Unfortunately I don't think Americans will rise up in protest over _anything_ any more. Certainly not over basic freedoms. -- Eric Murray ericm@lne.com Network security and encryption consulting. PGP keyid:E03F65E5