[52749] in Cypherpunks
RE: Weapons & Hope
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eric Anderson)
Wed Mar 27 11:21:20 1996
From: Eric Anderson <ericande@cnw.com>
To: "cypherpunks@toad.com" <cypherpunks@toad.com>,
"'Duncan Frissell'"
<frissell@panix.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 07:26:20 -0800
----------
From: Duncan Frissell[SMTP:frissell@panix.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 8:42 AM
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Weapons & Hope
While it might be barely possible
in the mass production age to control weapons by blocking the flow of =
these
specific products (a Streetsweeper, say) into the marketplace, it will
clearly not be possible in the age of custom production. General =
machines
will be available to produce specialized products (often under the =
direct
control of the customer, himself). Some of this custom production will =
be
weapons.
=09
I took machine tool operations @ my local community college. suffice it=20
to say, good, high-quality firearms are **EASY** to fabricate (Believe =
me!)
So my point is this: Just as the Gov't CANNOT prevent me from making a =
gun in my basement, whats to stop some high-school juinor from writing
a strong crypto program?
I can just see Chuckie Schumer introducing (W/ Sen. Fine-Swine as=20
co-sponor) a bill to ban "Cyberwar Software" i.e. mandatory registration =
of compilers, mandatory GAK, etc... What an asshole.
Take care,
Eric
