Excusing Judges for Knowing Too Much

["Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>]

At 8:20 AM -0500 11/8/96, Jim Ray wrote:

>been decided and appealed, because of this very possibility. I am already
>concerned that an ambitious U.S. Attorney, using Alta Vista, could attempt
>to argue that "cypherpunk terrorists have been secretly trying to subtly
>influence Kozinski's thinking, and that therefore he should be removed from
>the case in favor of some judge who has no clue whatsoever about the 'Net,
>encryption, anonymous remailers, etc." [I am sure the argument wouldn't be
>put quite that way <g> but that's what the U.S. Attorney would mean.] There
>is now a judge with some idea of these issues who will IMNSHO probably be
>fair to "our" side. It is a rare opportunity, and I don't want to "blow it."

A valid fear, given the times we live in.

If jurors can be dismissed for knowing "too much" about the O,J.
case--knowing how to _read_ ensures this--then we are probably
fast-approaching the point where judges are recused (or whatever the word
is) from hearing cases where they've had any education whatsover on.

(An exaggeration, of course.)

In any case, I don't think trying to influence the thinking of one of the
thousands of local judges is an efficient use of our time. Jim may enjoy
it, which is fine, but this is why I never took even a millisecond to write
a special essay for Judge Kozinski.

I place more faith in seeing the fundamental ground truth changed, via
technology.

--Tim May

"The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM
that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology."
[NYT, 1996-10-02]
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I 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: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."