[48084] in Cypherpunks
Re: "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bill Frantz)
Thu Jan 25 23:13:23 1996
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 19:55:54 -0800
To: hallam@w3.org, perry@piermont.com, cypherpunks@toad.com
From: frantz@netcom.com (Bill Frantz)
Cc: hallam@w3.org
At 4:08 PM 1/25/96 -0500, hallam@w3.org wrote:
>>Why is he our patron saint? He was a government official coming out
>>against invasion of privacy. Isn't that what we are all after, in the
>>end?
>
>There is a considerable difference between running a government and being an
>individual. It is not merely ethical for one government to read another's
>mail,
>it is a duty.
I am not sure that I believe this line of reasoning my self, but here goes:
The US government is "owned" by its citizens. Therefore US citizens should
have a high degree of protection from their government. However, non-US
citizens do not enjoy this same high standard (not being "owners"). They
perhaps should enjoy a similar standard in relation to their own
governments.
Another way of putting it is that while gentlemen do not read each other's
mail, gentlemen read non-gentlemen's mail.
Bill
