"Filegate" may be good news for us

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

The current flap over the Clinton Administration's request for and receipt
of FBI dossiers is being called "Filegate." The Administration has claimed
the requests were innocent, and based on outmoded Secret Service lists. The
Secret Service denies this, and says the list did not come from them. Some
say the list was of "Clinton's enemies," as it contained mostly leading
Republicans and Bush Administration staffers (even including former Sec. of
State Jim Baker).

Investigations are underway, and Att. General Janet Reno is suggesting that
Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr handled this investigation.

Why is this good news for us? (Besides the partisan issue of embarrassing
and degrading the current government, which is always a good thing.)

Because it underscores how difficult it is, even with ostensible
safeguards, to control the distribution of dossiers, secret files, and
surveillance reports. If the White House can order up several hundred
supposedly-secret FBI dossiers on leading Republicans and political
enemies, imagine what they could do with "voluntarily escrowed" crypto
keys!

(We all know all this, of course. My point is that this is providing a
timely demonstration of how little government can be trusted to keep its
secrets.)

In this political year, this "Filegate" flap may effectively table any
serious discussions of Reno-type GAK.

Not all news is bad.

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
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Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
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