Re: Regulation of citizen-alien communications (Was: Choices)

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 7:02 AM 2/11/96, lmccarth@cs.umass.edu wrote:
>Padgett writes:
>> Gov does have the right (in fact the duty) to regulate communications
>> between citizens and non-citizens/sites in other lands
>
>(not wishing to start a flamewar) Why do you think so ?

It isn't so. There are no restrictions, regulations, rules, or guidelines
about communicating with non-citizens/sites. None. No permits are needed,
no forms have to be filled out, no government offices have to be visited to
explain one's reasons for communicating with a non-citizen.

Just pick up the phone, or type a message in your computer, or whatever. We
citizens of the U.S. do it many times a day.

(There are two special cases, which hardly make Padgett's point: "Trading
with the Enemy Act" sorts of restrictions which limit commercial contacts
with Cuba, North Korea, and a few other countries. And the espionage laws.
That is, give nuclear weapons info to North Korean and you're in big
trouble. And there are various other kinds of minor rules, such as that no
citizen may engage in private diplomacy, bypassing the normal channels. I
don't believe these special cases are what Padgett could have meant when he
described the regulatory powers of government.]

--Tim May, who is even now communicating with foreigners without regulation

Boycott espionage-enabled software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."