Re: "German service cuts Net access" (to Santa Cruz)

[dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr. Dimitri Vulis)]

lull@acm.org (John Lull) writes:
> On Sun, 28 Jan 1996 22:18:28 -0500 (EST), Dr. Vulis wrote:
>
> > Very little crypto relevance in the following...
>
> Agreed.  I'll not be posting further on this topic here.  If you'd
> care to pursue this E-mail, I have no objection.

This should be my last comment to the list in this thread...

> > lull@acm.org (John Lull) writes:
>
> > > If this is really what Germany wants, then it sounds like time to
> > > totally cut Germany off from the internet, simply in self
> > > preservation.
>
> > I'm sure this is what the German government and many German people really w
>
> If so, then they have the power to make that decision, and to
> (largely) enforce it.  By doing so, however, they would (and should)
> lose all the benefits of the internet as well.

Even if 99% of Germans don't wish to be on the net, and 1% do, it would be
an honorable thing to help that 1%; e.g. by providing the tools to
circumvent their laws that we consider to be unjust. IMO, It's not fair to
blame each and every inhabitant of a country for the actions of their
government, even if it's democratically elected.

> Developing tools to access information is worthwhile.  But successfull
> attacks on those providing information makes access tools worthless.
> If the information simply isn't there, all the nice access tools in
> the world can't create it.

So, develop the tools to make the (illegal) flow of information easier and
the prosecution more difficult. E.g., the former Soviet Union couldn't stop
its people from listening to Western propaganda on short-wave radio,
although it was illegal, and more repressive governments did confiscate all
short-wave radios in the past.

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<a href="mailto:dlv@bwalk.dm.com">Dr. Dimitri Vulis</a>
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps