Re: Gore Commission wants to regulate the Net like broadcast

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 10:35 PM -0800 1/21/98, Steve Schear wrote:

>The measures being discussed at are clearly not in the interests of the
>public but of the continued maintenance of the state's priviledged
>position to influence or limit speech, information flow and public
>opinion.  The Feds cannot easily control millions of citizens directly and
>therefore need to create a franchise, like broadcast, whose licensees will
>bend to retain their priviledges.
>
>This paradigm is the same as for crypto. Since their goal is to limit
>access to crypto (which is most likely to find widespread acceptance only
>after seemless integration with common products ) and the Feds find it
>more difficult to control individual (e.g., cypherpunk) efforts, EAR
>enforcement is geared to corporations and congressional debate is steered
>to jobs, corporate profits and competitiveness.  To the extent that civil
>liberties issues are raised the national security trump card is played.
>
>These attempts at regulation show just how terrified they are of true free
>speech and every man a publisher.

Yes, they need "choke points" to control the anarchy.

As with the British plan to license a series of "certificate authorities,"
or U.S. plans/wishes to do the same thing, this effectively forces all
citizen-units to sign up with one of the authorized certificate issuers.
(This is why certificate-based systems are so heinous.)

We're seeing the pieces being put together in various ways. The new
Copyright law, which felonizes even minor infringements, is one piece. The
laws making it illegal to disparage food products is another. The proposed
"no anonymous speech" notions are another.

As with prison "trustees," or as with the forced deputizing of corporations
as soldiers in the War on Drugs, we are seeing "overlords" or "sheriffs"
being appointed/annointed to control their unruly underlings.

Which leaves unruly Cypherpunks still running free.

(Which is why I would look for signs that Congress will seek to make ISPs
responsible for political speech, a la the Chinese actions. Not this year,
not next, but someday. Except it won't be explicitly a law about political
speech, it'll be something about dangerous information, safety of the
children, etc.)

--Tim May



The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."