CDR: Re: why should it be trusted?

Tim May tcmay at got.net
Thu Oct 19 12:48:40 PDT 2000


At 12:25 PM -0700 10/19/00, David Honig wrote:
>At 05:48 PM 10/18/00 -0700, Nathan Saper wrote:
>>So are you saying that there is nothing wrong with the government
>>doing the corporations' dirty work?
>
>A govt has an obligation to secure the data it has collected
>and not to share it.  So perhaps we agree on this point: the
>govt must not give out (do 'dirty work') data on citizens that it holds.
>If an insurance (or bank or grocery or whatever) co. wants data, they can't
>expect it from the govt.
>
>[Hmm... I hadn't thought about the morality of terraserver.. where you
>can get pictures of your neighbors lots, taken by the govt]

This issue has been discussed recently, in some newspaper articles. 
(Don't have a URL, as I was reading it casually, elsewhere.) It 
turned out that the government high-res photos were ideal for 
burglars to use to case properties for break-ins, to identify 
unsecured property in backyards, etc.

And it's not a function of government to snoop like this, the Supreme 
Court's rulings notwithstanding. Ironically, when private actors do 
things like this, one can count on various government types to rush 
in with denunciations and lawsuits.

Sort of the way the government cracks down on polluting vehicles 
while school districts and public bus agencies run the 
worst-polluting vehicles. Or the pension plans which Congress exempts 
itself from. Government always cracks own on others and exempts 
itself. Nothing surprising. We just shouldn't let it happen.

--Tim May
-- 
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon"             | black markets, collapse of governments.





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