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

Sunder sunder at sunder.net
Fri Sep 28 14:51:53 PDT 2001


Declan, if you meet this bitch at some journalist's party or whatever, 
tell her "Even in the bill of rights, the rights of the people to be
secure in their homes and papers against illegal searches is preceded by
the right of free speech" (if you stretch illegible speech=encryption)

There are plenty of true libertarians, even more during terrorist attacks.

FYI: Our building is now taking to airport style x-ray machines to check
bags with.  ugh!


----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos---------------------------
 + ^ + :Surveillance cameras|Passwords are like underwear. You don't /|\
  \|/  :aren't security.  A |share them, you don't hang them on your/\|/\
<--*-->:camera won't stop a |monitor, or under your keyboard, you   \/|\/
  /|\  :masked killer, but  |don't email them, or put them on a web  \|/
 + v + :will violate privacy|site, and you must change them very often.
--------_sunder_ at _sunder_._net_------- http://www.sunder.net ------------

On Wed, 26 Sep 2001, 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. 
> 
> 





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