Re: Senate panel nixes ProCODE II, approves McCain-Kerrey bill

[Mike Duvos <enoch@zipcon.net>]

Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> writes:

 > Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), committee chair and chief
 > sponsor of the measure, led the attack, saying Congress
 > must "stop child pornography on the Internet and Internet
 > gambling. These legitimate law enforcement concerns cannot
 > and should not be overlooked or taken lightly."

This is of course an interesting suggestion, since most underage
erotica and gambling on the Net aren't encrypted in the first
place.  It reminds me of one Islamic country where the leaders
introduced television by reading the Koran over it, daring
critics to attack something that could be used to transmit the
word of God.

We have much the opposite situation here in the United States,
where any new technology is immediately judged by whether it can
be used to transmit pictures of naked children, or thwart
attempts by law enforcement to stamp them out.

 > He warned that allowing encryption to be exported would
 > permit child pornographers to use it.

Perhaps by "Child Pornographers," the good Senator means those
legally producing erotica in countries where the permissible age
is 16 or 17, as opposed to the US-Mandated Official Age of
Adulthood and Full Responsibility(tm) of 18.

Countries where, of course, would-be child pornographers use only
quality American encryption, the population of such nations being
so busy pornographing that they have no time to develop strong
encryption products of their own.

 > (At this point, one of the more deaf committee members
 > asked, "Pornography? Are we going to ban pornography?")

A memorable moment, I am sure, comparable to when Senator
Hollings attempted to pronounce "Beavis and Butt-Head."

 > After the vote, advocacy groups tried to put a good face on
 > the devastating loss -- and an expensive defeat it was.

You really can't fight Congress.  Ten minutes after you defeat a
bill and spend all your resources, it will be back on the floor
under another name and the whole thing will start over again.
After you defeat that one, you will discover that the text of the
measure got passed late one night as an ammendment to something
completely unrelated.

The government has infinite resources to harp incessantly on
anything until they engineer consent for it and get what they
want. Resistance is Futile.  You will be Assimilated.

 > "There's another day. We have confidence in the system," said
 > BSA's Robert Holleyman. CDT's Jerry Berman said, "What is
 > encouraging is that unlike the CDA other committees are getting
 > involved."

These two should be the first up against the wall when the
revolution comes.

On an unrelated note, after posting just ONE message to
cypherpunks from my new Zipcon account, my mailbox is beginning
to swell with Unsolicited Bulk Email.

--
     Mike Duvos         $    PGP 2.6 Public Key available     $
     enoch@zipcon.com   $    via Finger                       $