Re: TLAs on cypherpnks (was Re: ALL OF YOU ARE CRIMINAL HACKERS)

[Greg Broiles <gbroiles@netbox.com>]

>[Declan asked a former CIA employee] if he had ever monitored the
>cypherpunks list. "No, I
>didn't. It was too high-traffic," he said. "But the guy in the next
>office over from me did."
>
>Is this the first confirmed report of TLA cypherpunk-monitoring?

Given that no names or dates are mentioned, I dunno if it's fair to call it
"confirmed". It doesn't seem to be re-confirmable, if someone else wanted to
verify it independently. I'm also not sure that a TLA employee reading the
list because they happen to find it interesting counts as "monitoring".
"Monitoring" suggests to me that it's being read/filtered/indexed/archived
in some organized and deliberate fashion.

Even so, the issue seems likely to generate more heat than light. If the
list is interesting, it's unremarkable that one or more TLA employees would
choose to read it. On our better days, we're talking about the
intersection(s) between politics and privacy and technology - issues which
affect the performance of many of a TLA's duties as well as the public will
to maintain the policies and funding of the TLA and its employees. It's not
surprising that TLA's want the capability to read every word written and
hear every word spoken; it's just surprising that they believe that using
law to maintain their ability to do that is compatible with the Constitution. 
--
Greg Broiles                |"Post-rotational nystagmus was the subject of
gbroiles@netbox.com         |an in-court demonstration by the People
http://www.io.com/~gbroiles |wherein Sgt Page was spun around by Sgt
                            |Studdard." People v. Quinn 580 NYS2d 818,825.