[Rant!] Death by praise Re: Netscape gives in to key escrow

[s1113645@tesla.cc.uottawa.ca]

On Thu, 30 Nov 1995, Jay Holovacs wrote:

> On Thu, 30 Nov 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:
> > Can Netscape continue to prosper? This latest issue won't kill it,
> 
> I suspect this will unfortunately help. Stockholders are interested in 
> profits, not principles. Co-oping with the feds will help Netscape get to 
> the commercial market sooner, and most customers, sadly don't give a damn 
> about privacy (or don't understand).

<Rant mode on>
Clipper and family are vampires; shine some light on them and they're dead.
Witness the public ridicule of the FBI 1% scheme. Compare that to the near
mainstream silence about DT. The last round of Clipper was wonderful, for 
a while in '94 we had Time sounding like Brock Meeks.

If Jim Clark really does mean this nonsense then I hope he does a Dorothy 
Denning and takes his show on the road (sorry Jeff). This is simply 
easy fodder for journalists without a story, totally black and white 
cheap shot at the gov. While people don't give a damn about their privacy, 
they sure do get mad when they're shown how easy it is to take away. 
They *hate* hearing the $ cost.

Maybe some of the people on this list with higher profiles than myself should
start defending Clipper and GAK as loudly and stupidly as possible. I've 
grown dead tired of trying to get anyone around me interested in pgp,
remailers and whatnot. Reverse psycho sounds a lot easier:

"Noted counterterrorism expert Timothy May was quoted on Connie Chung Live 
last night as saying "Clipper, GAK and CTHULHU666 are a hundred billion 
dollar investment in your national security. Only through complete wiretapping 
will we save our nation's children from violent cigarette smokers, tax 
cheaters, unlicensed pit-bull owners, Tax 'n Spend Liberals, murderous Nation 
of Islam Dope Pushers, audiophiles, christians, fat people, OJ and 
jaywalkers on the infohighway." -USA Today" 

(Apologies. You may now killfile me with a clear conscience.)

If you can't beat 'em, subvert 'em.