It tolls for thee

[jim bell]

At 09:42 AM 6/7/96 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote:
>At 7:29 AM 6/7/96, jim bell wrote:
>
>>Even so, given how much noise we've been hearing out of DC on the subject
>>of the Internet, digital cash, and good encryption, I'd say SOMEBODY is
>>getting a bit worried.  I haven't exactly been keeping this stuff a secret:
>>What do you think their reaction has been, so far?  When those
>>government-types start considering various scary scenarios, what do you
>>think they are imagining?
>
>I don't think any significant amount of the current stuff coming out of
>Washington has anything to do with my words, your words, or the words of
>anyone on this or any other forum I know about.

Okay, I was not trying to suggest that any particular source is followed.  
What I'm noticing is the almost uniformly "pessimistic" (as to the fate of 
the government) views I've read on the various computer networks, and the 
uniformly hostile reactions to government proposals.  This can't be 
reassuring to the people in power today.



>Rather, the reasons for their actions and hyperbole about the Net, the Web,
>online porn, money laundering, the "information highway," and all that
>trendy stuff is because they can see many of the same trends we see.
>
>While I have a certain amount of pride that my single-page "Crypto
>Anarchist Manifesto" essentially nailed a bunch of trends which have become
>obvious to all in the 8 years after I issued it, I don't for a picosecond
>think anything I wrote then or since has had any significant effect on
>proposed leglislation.

Don't be so sure.  Legislators, alone, don't have the smarts to figure out 
why they "needed" a Clipper-chip proposal, or the capacity to tap 1% of the 
phone calls, or other recent government proposals.  Government is usually 
very good at ignoring problems long after they become problems.  The fact 
that they're so hot to control the Internet suggests to me that somebody has 
been talking to them about what is going to happen. 
 

Jim Bell
jimbell at pacifier.com