Re: Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) called for a global prohibition on encryption

From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Fri Sep 14 2001 - 17:22:01 MDT


On Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 02:47:07PM -0700, Robert Coyote wrote:
> how's this for a counter meme
>
> An open society has its costs, Americans never expect to have freedom for
> free, however defending the Freedoms that make this Great Country the
> beacon of liberty for all the world cannot be had by destroying those very
> freedoms we cherish, and is a self inflicted wound to the American spirit.We
> shall not be intimidated into destroying those freedoms hard won with blood
> and sacrifice, that we solemnly vow to protect.

Well done! As a Swede, I am culturally unable to formulate such a meme
in a convincing American way :-)

We better set it in motion *fast*, because the erosion of freedom has
already begun:

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46852,00.html

"Under the Combating Terrorism Act, prosecutors could authorize
surveillance for 48-hour periods without a judge's approval.

Warrantless surveillance appears to be limited to the addresses of
websites visited, the names and addresses of e-mail correspondents, and
so on, and is not intended to include the contents of communications.
But the legislation would cover URLs, which include information such as
what Web pages you're visiting and what terms you type in when visiting
search engines.

Circumstances that don't require court orders include an "immediate
threat to the national security interests of the United States, (an)
immediate threat to public health or safety or an attack on the
integrity or availability of a protected computer." That covers most
computer hacking offenses. "

It is already approved by the Senate.

-- 
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Anders Sandberg                                      Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se                            http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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