[87039] in Cypherpunks
Re: The Telcos oppose Oxley
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lizard)
Wed Sep 24 22:08:48 1997
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 18:15:10 -0700
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>, Lizard <lizard@mrlizard.com>
From: Lizard <lizard@dnai.com>
Cc: Peter Herngaard <pethern@inet.uni-c.dk>, <telstar@wired.com>,
fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu, cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: <v03007803b04f44c3de03@[204.254.22.38]>
Reply-To: Lizard <lizard@dnai.com>
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At 06:32 PM 9/24/97 -0400, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>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.
>
<shrug> Rather, my position is that the system is ALREADY hopelessly
corrupt and imbalanced;altering the letter of the law to say '20
years' as opposed to '10 years' FOR SOMETHING THAT SHOULDN'T BE A
CRIME AT ALL is irrelevant. The government can just as easily create
two trumped-up ten year charges as it can one 20 year charge;'law'
and 'justice' have nothing to do with one another anymore.
The whole concept of criminilizing the use of crpytography is
offensive;the exact specifics -- 10 years or 20 years -- are pretty
much the same.
Though, on second thought, there is a serious issue with it -- if, as
we hope, encryption becomes widespread, than anyone doing anything
will be using it;including 'in the commission of a crime'. This could
make petty misdemeanors into 20 year federal crimes, and THAT is
something to worry about. Hm.
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