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Tom DeBoni adds: should university academicians working for state-supported institutions be

subject

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to the same constraints on privacy and freedom from arbitrary search and seizure in their email and computer files as high federal governmental officials?

That's a tough one. I suppose there would have to be a body that decided on a case by case (or a class by class) basis what accounts would be subject to heavy scrutiny. Unfortunately, this begins to create a overseeing body so huge and convolute as to render the entire process unwieldly approaching on the absurd. I read Kafka's "The Trial" and I don't want to face that sort of Juggernaut any time soon. On the other hand, if you don't lump _every_ friggin' state and federal employee (and I didn't) into the picture and only consider those persons with a dangerous largesse inherent in their positions (sorry, but that swell fella Ollie North somehow once again comes to mind), the whole thing takes on a more manageable (notice I said "more") appearance. Hey, this is a tough ethical dilemma. I ain't got all the answers, just an opinion (just like assholes... everyone's got one, right?). Basically, I worry about abuse of email systems by knowledgable/sinister government officials. When you consider how hard it is for the general public to conceive of abuse on paper memos, imagine how much damage and subversion a savvy individual could do with a "computer" (gwarsh, Mickey! Whut's a kum-pee-you-ter?) to the democratic process before anyone would pay attention to a cypherpunk crying "wolf!" Encryption to the Masses! dave