RE: My Blind Spot - Patriot Act II

From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Tue Mar 18 2003 - 17:02:31 MST

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    Ron writes

    > [Amara] wrote that reporting that one part of the Patriot Act II would
    > outlaw using encryption in the commission of a felony. That is exactly
    > the sort of thing I expect to see struck down in act of becoming law or
    > will be struck down in the courts if it is ever used as the basis of a
    > criminal charge.

    > There is a rough parallel. Is it a felony for a person planning a
    > crime to use a scrambler when talking on the phone? I suspect not.
    > Is there a law against criminals taking steps to conceal their
    > conversations from police authorities?

    I don't think that there is such a law. Another parallel that
    comes to mind is the category of "hate crime". Suppose that
    you murder X, which is of course a terrible crime. Your prison
    sentence will be compounded if it is shown that your *motivation*
    had to do with race.

    I think that that's silly. Punishment must fit the crime,
    not the motive.

    In the same way, one will not be punished in the Patriot Act II
    for using cryptology, but, in an exactly analogous way, it will
    lengthen one's sentence. This also seems silly. It's the *crime*
    that matters. I too hope that this part is defeated.

    But it's only *silly* IMO. I get no more excited over it than
    I do "hate crime", which, though closer, still has a way to go
    before it gets to "thought crime".

    In another message today, Ron posts

    > The [Patriot Act II], if ever enacted as presented to us by
    > the ACLU, is a monstrosity.

    Well, I was unable to get Hubert to say exactly why.
    Would you please? What, specifically, in the ACLU
    paper seems monstrous?

    Here is my challenge to Hubert which he has so far declined.
    (It also contains an URL to the original ACLU site.)

    http://www.extropy.org/exi-lists/extropians/0303/4482.html

    In it I list four items that at first seemed bad to me, but which,
    after looking more carefully, I couldn't actually find very
    objectionable. (The name of the thread here "My Blind Spot"
    was not chosen carelessly!)

    I realize that this is something the Left should do here, not
    you---but they seem quite reluctant for some reason.

    Thanks,
    Lee



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