Re: Children's Privacy Act

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

At 12:00 AM 5/25/96, Hal wrote:

>I think the reason (some) cypherpunks support things like offshore data
>havens isn't that they think it's great to reduce the amount of privacy
>people have.  Why would they support crypto and such if that were their
>motivation?  The real reason is because we expect that such databases are
>going to come into existence regardless of legal efforts.  They may be
>"underground", or for that matter they may be run by governments
>themselves, whom we are supposed to trust with our secrets.

Yes, this is part of it (at least for me, and many others have expressed
similar thoughts).

We all as Cypherpunks know about "security through obscurity." Related
names are: the _illusion_ of security, the "ostrich effect," etc.

(Another key development which informs the CP outlook is the Lotus
experience with their CD-ROM database on zipcodes, names, etc. I think it
was called "Neighborhoods." Privacy advocates bought themselves the
illusion of privacy by getting Lotus to cancel this...even as the data
remained available to corporate, credit, intelligence agency, etc.
customers.)

>The point is that the best countermeasure is to prevent the collection of
>the data in the first place.  Ecash is better than credit cards for this
>reason.  People should try to structure their lives so that as little
>information is leaked about them as possible.  Relying on laws forbidding
>people to keep information they have run across isn't likely to be
>effective.

Indeed, and "privacy laws," besides infringing on the basic freedoms of
people to compile public data as they see fit, give people a "security
blanket" which lessens their motivation to ensure their own privacy through
direct, technological means.

I frankly cannot understand how _any_ member of this list could _ever_
support so-called "privacy laws." Such laws fail to actually ensure
privacy, and in fact give government new avenues for control.


--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
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W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
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