[87037] in Cypherpunks
Re: The Telcos oppose Oxley
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Declan McCullagh)
Wed Sep 24 21:52:18 1997
In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19970924132310.00b87100@dnai.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 18:32:09 -0400
To: Lizard <lizard@mrlizard.com>
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Cc: Peter Herngaard <pethern@inet.uni-c.dk>, <telstar@wired.com>,
fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu, cypherpunks@toad.com
Reply-To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
At 13:23 -0700 9/24/97, Lizard wrote:
>At 09:47 PM 9/24/97 +0200, Peter Herngaard wrote:
>>They support the penalty enhancement for use of encryption
>>in futherance of a felony.
>
>I don't find this particularly offensive, on the grounds that if you're
>convicted of any given crime, the government can more-or-less drum up so
>many related charges they can put you away for 500 years ANYWAY, so what
>difference does it make?
Lizard's position is sadly incoherent. If he believes in civil liberties --
and I know he does -- then he should think twice. Just because the federal
government has broad powers doesn't mean we should give them more.
Under Lizard's reasoning, he should find a law outlawing "breathing air (or
speaking Spanish) in the commission of a crime" acceptable. Or at least not
"particularly offensive."
-Declan
