Reason's C. Young: Encryption is "scary," put up with surveillance

[Declan McCullagh]

In case any of y'all actually care, my response (and others) to Young's
essay is here:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02575.html

-Declan


On Wed, Sep 26, 2001 at 06:18:15PM -0400, Declan McCullagh wrote:
> http://www.reason.com/cy/cy092401.html
> 
>     September 24, 2001
>     Civil liberties may take a hit
>     By Cathy Young
> 
>     [...]
> 
>     The movements of foreign visitors will be scrutinized more closely.
>     Perhaps most alarming to many civil libertarians, it's likely that the
>     government will expand its ability to monitor electronic mail, which
>     has been a controversial issue for some time.
> 
>     Do I like the idea of the government intercepting e-mail? No. But, as
>     long as there's judicial oversight and due process, that's no
>     different from its longstanding power to intercept regular mail.
> 
>     Do I like the idea of people being able to encrypt electronic
>     communications so that they are beyond surveillance? Frankly, I found
>     it scary even before Sept. 11 - precisely because of the threat of
>     terrorism.
> 
>     It is said that there are no atheists in foxholes; perhaps there are
>     no true libertarians in times of terrorist attacks.
> 
>     Even in the Declaration of Independence, the right to liberty is
>     preceded by the right to life.