[42968] in Cypherpunks
Re: FBI seeks huge wiretapping system
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (hallam@w3.org)
Mon Nov 6 12:55:11 1995
To: "James A. Donald" <jamesd@echeque.com>, cypherpunks@toad.com
Cc: hallam@w3.org
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 04 Nov 95 15:48:29 +0700."
<199511042303.PAA29063@blob.best.net>
Date: Mon, 06 Nov 95 12:46:57 -0500
From: hallam@w3.org
>This of course is the basic evil of government regulation: Bricks are
>dangerous. Two by fours are dangerous. Water is dangerous. Playgrounds
>are dangerous. Everything is dangerous, because everything could be used
>to cause harm, deliberately or accidentally.
You miss the central point. The NSA are simply one link in a beuracratic
chain. Their behaviour is determined by their position in that chain and
the nature of the question they are asked. If we could change the
question they were asked from "is this dangerous" to "is this significantly
more dangerous than allowing ownership of guns" we might get somewhere.
Phill
