[42740] in Cypherpunks
Re: FBI seeks huge wiretapping system
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (hallam@w3.org)
Thu Nov 2 18:31:56 1995
To: perry@piermont.com
Cc: hallam@w3.org, cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 02 Nov 95 17:39:06 EST."
<199511022239.RAA06803@jekyll.piermont.com>
Date: Thu, 02 Nov 95 18:08:42 -0500
From: hallam@w3.org
>Indeed, I have searched both the constitution and my collected works
>of Nietzsche and found no reference to the inalienable right of
>governments to listen in on any conversations, let alone the 1% of
>conversations the FBI wants access to.
Nietzsche is not a recognised authority on the US consititution nor
are his works on ethical systems particularly definitive. At best he
points out the deficencies in the ethical systems of Kant and hints
at a limitation of reasoned approaches to ethics. His ethics of
Will are hardly a fully finished system of ethics. If you want a
contemporary system of ethics you would find Rorty, Habbermass or
Singer a far better choice.
Even within the Nietzschian system of ethics it is very clear that
listening in on the telephone conversations of "the botched and the
bungled" would lie well within the rights of super-man. Indeed he
is very explicit that there is no logical need for these people to
have rights of any sort. Their lives are at the disposal of the great
leader.
The justification the NSA relies upon is the fact of a Federal law
that makes it lawful to conduct wiretaps. I think the FBI have gone
off into gaga land with the magnitude of their request. This is a good
thing. They are not likely to get anything as a result.
Phill
