What was the quid pro quo for Wassenaar countries?
HyperReal-Anon
nobody at sind.hyperreal.art.pl
Sat Dec 5 06:49:55 PST 1998
"Phillip Hallam-Baker" <hallam at ai.mit.edu> writes
John Gilmore may be right, but remember folks that in Europe we
have this thing the Greeks invented called democracy. One of the
ideas of democracy is that decisions are not made in secret closed
meetings.
Yes, and people democratically demand government enforcement of the
majority will, something made more difficult if the subjects have
strong cryptography.
As Donn Parker observed several years ago, strong cryptography is
inconsistent with democracy. (Published in Scientific American ---
reference on request.)
John Gilmore <gnu at toad.com> writes
Some countries actually seem to care what their citizens think
about their crypto laws, unlike the shining example of democracy,
the USSA. And when we educate the citizens, they tend to make the
right choices. Let's keep trying.
But don't educate them too much, or they will understand that
cryptography can set people free, and if people were free there would
be no political government, and if there were no political government
their social security checks would stop coming, along with all their
other government ``benefits''.
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