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

[Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com>]

At 06:30 PM 6/19/97 -0700, Tim May wrote:
>This of course was the crux of my criticism of SAFE, and to a lesser
>extent, Pro-CODE, and of the nominally pro-liberty groups like EPIC and
>CDT. They supported "business friendly" bills, perhaps catering to their
>telecom and computer industry contributors, and did not take a strong civil
>libertarian stance.

Yup.  Not that any bill requiring NSA/CIA/FBI approval for export is
particularly business friendly, even for crypto software business
(much less for people in the speech and artwork businesses), of course...

>(Gee, nearly all highways receive Federal funds, due to the way the tax
>monies are collected and then disbursed. Does this mean the government can
>regulate speech in any car travelling on any highway even partly built or
>operated with Federal funds? Think about the parallels.)

You mean people might be required to get a license to travel on
government-funded roads, and be forced to demonstrate it to any cop who asks?
Or need a license to fly in non-government-funded air, or need to show
government-issued ID to travel on government-licensed airlines?
Americans would never stand for that sort of abuse!  
(As you said, "The whole system is corrupt".)  

There have been exceptions - the Alvarado-Sanchez case, in which the
Supremes decided that police had not had sufficient reason to stop
a truck traveling near but parallel to the US/Mexican border,
and therefore no right to start poking flashlights in the windows,
and no right to order the driver to open the tarp covering
half a ton of marihuana.  Or for that matter the Miranda case,
or Brown vs. Texas (you don't have to give your name even if they
arrest and book you...)  But mostly, it's corrupt, and 
every "compromise" just ratchets down the amount of freedom we have.



#			Thanks;  Bill
# Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com
# You can get PGP outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/pgp
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