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CDA as a tool (was: Re: Helping the Crypto-Clueless)
On Fri, 2 Feb 1996, Bruce Baugh wrote:
> While talking with Alan Olsen about the impending Telecommunications Decency
> Act, a thought struck me: one of the groups that's really going to be hurt
> by this is pagans. Me, I'm one o' them Christian types; it's my anarchism
> that'll get me on lists. But insofar as cypherpunks have contact with pagans
> (and aboriginal American groups and the like), probably there are a lot of
> folks who should be ramping up for privacy right away.
>
I agree: and in addition to that, I'd like to say that contrary to the
beliefs of some people on this list, I don't think the CDA is
representative of a legislative body's spiteful action against general
free speech and information; it's far to simple a motivation for
computer-illiterate, re-election minded professional politicians. They
simply don't know enough about the nature of the internet itself to
conspire to something as abstract as all that. I believe that every
congress critter had a specific social enemy in mind when he/she voted for
that bill; somebody who they've been using as their banner, whom they vow
to fight against when re-elected.
Pagans are a good example of a group likely to be the victims of such
political action. I, as an activist in the field, ask you to imagine the
consequenses for the gay civil rights movement, when even discussing the
issue is viewed as 'indecent or immoral' by some of the more conservative
lawmakers. Remember when Canada banned the import of pornography, even the
news-oriented gay and lesbian publications were halted at the border.
The crypto relevance in this post is the value of examples such as these
when explaining to your friends why they need
non-government-escrowed crypto so badly in electronic discourse. People
tend to see the need for it a bit more when they see the threat more
clearly. I'm a college student, and while not all my friends are
involved in the same pursuits I am, most of them are at least loosely
associated with groups which are considered undesireable by some
government types (Black Activists, Jewish Activists, Pro Life/Choice
advocates, etc). In college, who isn't?
I don't post too often to cypherpunks, so if this view is overly
simplistic, right on the mark, or completely wrong, send me some mail,
and we'll discuss.
Kathleen M. Ellis http://zeus.towson.edu/~kelli/ [email protected]
Diverse Sexual Orientation Coll. Towson State University [email protected]
"I can't help it, I'm a born lever-puller"
-Ringo
from "Yellow Submarine"
"Your friends are really just enemies who don't have the guts to kill you"
-J. Tenuta
"Obscenity is a crutch for inarticulate motherfuckers."
-Fortune Cookie
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