Trei wrote:

Aimee, who is somewhat of a newcomer to our list, is groping towards an idea which seems to hold the minds of many contributors; that the contents of our private data are as personal, and should be as inviolate, as the contents of our heads.

To those of us to whom the use of computers is as natural as breathing, our data are as much a part of us as our memories, and we instinctively feel they should be just as intimately held.

We now use computers as extensions of our minds - a vast store of knowledge, ideas, and abilities. This ability simply did not exist at the time the Constitution was written, and as computers grew out of accounting equipment, their data came to be treated as 'papers' rather than 'memories'.

This disjuncture between how we feel about our private data, and how the powers that be treat it, is one basis for a major thread of discussion on cypherpunks and other lists - how one can store one's own personal data in a way which makes it accessible to oneself, and only to oneself.

Being forced to turn over one's most intimate thoughts knownlege, and plans, simply because they are outside of one' skull, is a rape of the mind, and a violation of the intent of the Fifth Amendment.

As to your first point, not exactly, I was trying to distinguish something THIS SNAKE said, and the entire basis of his law-oriented argument: "no difference/same data/no intercept" -- I think the moment is important because of the sense of security we have at THAT moment is an extreme interest. Is the interception requirement just a result the technology from our telephone wire past? It would seem the moment of genesis is even more sacred, not less. You went farther into the 5th/mental processes, and I don't know that anybody has put it so well. I replied to your points individually, but felt like I was being inconsiderate of your thoughts in breaking them up. Certainly words this most-high individual should hear. Cypherpunks should reply to Scarfo EN BLOC. I know it's "old news" to you old dogs, but it isn't to everybody else. Your words do travel. You are 10 ahead of the public agenda. Or, you used to be. "The agenda" appears to be catching up with you. ~Aimee