schlafly@bbs.cruzio.com wrote:

Obstruction of justice is already a crime. Why add penalties for using encryption? Intimidate crypto users? Discourage use of encryption? Give the feds jurisdiction over crypto matters?

There are several different interpretations of the most controversial sections of the bill, it is vague and ambiguous. The only interpretation that I have seen that gives effect to the stated purposes of the bill is that if a cop is investigating a felony, he can demand your secret key, and if you refuse to give it to him, you get five years for obstruction. If the objectionable parts mean anything at all, they must *widen* the already alarmingly broad concept of "obstruction of justice". That is to say, of the many possible interpretations of this section, the only one that gives effect to the stated purposes of this legislation, delegates judicial powers to cops.

I see nothing good in this bill, except the export rule relaxation.

This bill is a net loss: It gives the software companies considerably less than they thought they were getting, and violates the rights of individuals. The best bill we can hope to obtain is no bill at all. Crypto is profoundly harmful to the vested interest of Washington, and the more attention they pay to it the worse we will be: Any bill that Washington could pass is a bad bill. Any attempt to fix this bill is likely to make it worse.

Roger

--------------------------------------------------------------------- We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because of the kind of animals that we are. True law derives from this right, not from the arbitrary power of the omnipotent state. http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ James A. Donald jamesd@echeque.com