Crypto Exports, Europe, and Conspiracy Theories

[Weld Pond]

At 23:12 1/24/96, Michael Froomkin wrote:

>If you are a government strategist, you might think, Why not make people
>strictly liable for, e.g., any crimes planned with their remailers?  And
>make ISPs strictly liable for crimes panned or executed on their systems?

But if all traffic is required to be encrypted which is going through the 
remailer or ISP, how can they be liable for what they cannot possibly 
know?  This will be the state of the net in a few years.

Can a courier be held liable for delivering encrypted documents that
contained illegal information or were used in a crime?  I don't think so. 
Only if he knew there was something illegal going on.  How are remailers
any different?

What about a car rental agency that rented a car to a criminal with bogus
ID that is used to commit a crime.  Was Ryder held liable for the Oklahoma
bombing? No. 

In these two situations, people are in business and profitting by
providing a service that can be used to commit crimes. Shouldn't they be
shut down too if remailers are.  I don't know where the idea got started 
that the govenment has it within its power to make illegal any new 
technology that *can* and *is* used to commit crimes.  It is a pretty 
scary one though.  


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