brin on privacy

[peter honeyman <honey@citi.umich.edu>]

david brin spoke in ann arbor recently at a library science school
alumni meeting.  his talk was titled "Information and the 21st
Century:  Privacy, Wealth and the Newest Threat to Freedom."  here are
my recollections; hopefully they're not too dim or biased.

getting right to the punch line, tNTtF is this:

    privacy laws will be used as a weapon by the Rich and Powerful to
    restrict the free flow of information.

brin feels that privacy laws will be ineffective against the RaP, will
be sold to the rest of us through effective propaganda, and that they
will be used by the RaP as a means to cement their power base.  he
argues that complete and open access to information provides the
greatest social benefit and best serves The American Dream.

asked about clipper, he suggested that key escrow was exactly the sort
of tool that the RaP would use, and that we would all benefit by
banning cryptography.

asked whether private citizens should be barred from insuring personal
electronic privacy, he replied that he felt that such measures would be
ineffective agianst the RaP.  (i concluded from these answers that 
cryptography is not brin's strong point.)

brin's message was basically a populist one.  he is concerned that the
moguls of data will have the opportunity to control what we see and
hear.  what i found most fascinating about his talk was that while i
generally agree with the social objectives he backs, i am in 180 degree
disagreement on how to accomplish these ends.

	peter

ps:  anybody else get the willies (as it were) reading paul goggin's
note about foia, where the asst atty genl was asked about fbi foias
against individuals, and replied that the new foia regs presumed
disclosure?  hey brin, there oughtta be a law!