...and other Trials

[deltorto@aol.com]

>>      Tom DeBoni adds:
>>should university academicians working for state-supported institutions be
subject
>>to the same constraints on privacy and freedom from arbitrary search and
seizure in
>>their email and computer files as high federal governmental officials?

That's a tough one. I suppose there would have to be a body that decided on a
case by case (or a class by class) basis what accounts would be subject to
heavy scrutiny. Unfortunately, this begins to create a overseeing body so
huge and convolute as to render the entire process unwieldly approaching on
the absurd. I read Kafka's "The Trial" and I don't want to face that sort of
Juggernaut any time soon. On the other hand, if you don't lump _every_
friggin' state and federal employee (and I didn't) into the picture and only
consider those persons with a dangerous largesse inherent in their positions
(sorry, but that swell fella Ollie North somehow once again comes to mind),
the whole thing takes on a more manageable (notice I said "more") appearance.

Hey, this is a tough ethical dilemma. I ain't got all the answers, just an
opinion (just like assholes... everyone's got one, right?). Basically, I
worry about abuse of email systems by knowledgable/sinister government
officials. When you consider how hard it is for the general public to
conceive of abuse on paper memos, imagine how much damage and subversion a
savvy individual could do with a "computer" (gwarsh, Mickey! Whut's a
kum-pee-you-ter?) to the democratic process before anyone would pay attention
to a cypherpunk crying "wolf!"

Encryption to the Masses!

  dave