[66114] in Cypherpunks
Re: Bernstein hearing: The Press Release
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Julian Assange)
Sun Sep 22 02:59:24 1996
From: Julian Assange <proff@suburbia.net>
To: jimbell@pacifier.com (jim bell)
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996 16:47:58 +1000 (EST)
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: <199609220525.WAA21842@mail.pacifier.com> from "jim bell" at Sep 21, 96 10:24:22 pm
> >There may be certain circumstances under which speech can be directly harmful.
> >Military operations and missle launch codes are things that should be kept
> >secret. Information about high-powered weapons should be too. If the
> Japanese
> >had been able to get information about how to build A-bombs during WWII, major
> >cities in the U.S. probably would have been completely wiped out. I don't
> like
> >the idea that the government has the power to decide what's harmful and what
> >isn't, but there are beneficial uses of the provision.
>
> The few examples that exist, as you've selected them above, seem to be
> almost entirely based on military secrets in time of war. It is not clear
> whether a non-security clearance civilian is restricted in any way, nor
> should he be.
You must remember there is a distinction to information in-confidence,
and information generated independntly. It is only the breech of confidence
that should be penalised, not the information itself.
--
"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims
may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons
than under omnipotent moral busybodies, The robber baron's cruelty may
sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who
torment us for own good will torment us without end, for they do so with
the approval of their own conscience." - C.S. Lewis, _God in the Dock_
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