Re: gov. contracts for Clipper phones

[collins@newton.apple.com (Scott Collins)]

Jason Zions writes:

  >[...] I find it
  >highly unlikely that the contracts in question are for clipper-based phones;
  >we already know the government doesn't plan to use clipper technology
  >itself, since it can be suborned by LEO types.

I think it *very* likely that the government would want to spy on itself
just as much as it wants to spy on everybody else.  Remember, the
government is not a single entity -- out to get us -- but a collection of
individuals, some fraction of whom are covering their butts and looking for
goats at any given moment (as has been revealed to us by the media).  All
of whom are interested in maintaining/improving their current status.  This
is true at the level of the individual, the committee, the agency, the
party... in fact at any identifiable organizational level, entities will
engage in behavior that profits them even (or especially) at the expense of
entities outside themselves.

Scott Collins              | "Few people realize what tremendous power
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