Re: a new role for the NSA

[Brad Huntting <huntting@glarp.com>]

> If I was in charge of the NSA, I would argue to my budget-dispensing
> superiors that all of the strong crypto just meant that I needed
> a bigger budget to scan for data.

Indeed, the NSA's opposition to crypto (be it bad standards or
arcane export regulations) has one clear intent:  to keep down the
cost of wiretaping.

Wiretaping makes it easier for "law enforcement" to identify and
take action against undesirable elements.  Be it communists,
environmentalists, unsanctioned drug dealers, civil rights activists,
union leaders, guerila heating engineers, or just some poor bloke
who blew the whistle on the wrong multinational; wiretaping
facilitates not only finding them and finding what to charge them
with.


brad