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Re: TLAs on cypherpnks (was R
"Deranged Mutant" <[email protected]> writes:
>A story I heard: During a privacy conference back when Clipper was
>first proposed (about 3 yrs ago) people were questioning an NSA rep
>about escrow. He started off his rebuttal by asking "Is Sternlight
>here?" and then contined his reasoning as to why Clipper was a good
>thing.
>Don't know if this actually happened, but I'm sure if it did some
>here would remember it.
It happened, but that's about sci.crypt or talk.politics.crypto rather
than Cypherpunks, since David wasn't vocal here in those days. A sci.crypt
article on CFP '94 by Jerod Tufte dated 26 Mar 94 included the transcript
of a panel discussion involving (among others) Stewart Baker, then NSA
general counsel; the panel was on 24 Mar. Mike Godwin asked from the floor:
You said in myth number four that we can anticipate -- and in fact NSA
did anticipate that these technologies would become available in five
to ten years. People would go buy telephones, have an encryption
button and be able to use this technology -- I think I am quoting you
accurately -- in profoundly anti-social ways. Isn't it true that many
otherwise acceptable technologies can be used by individuals in
profoundly anti-social ways including, say the printing press. Isn't
it in fact true that in a democratic society we make a decision to
empower individuals knowing upfront and openly that we do so taking
risk about society. Isn't that in fact the case in this country?
Baker responded:
Yes. And first I should say, Mike, I haven't met you but I've read
your stuff and actually, is David Sternlight here too?
Sure you take risks and you have to look at each technology as it
comes. Let's take a look at cars. Cars have advantages and risks and
how do we deal with that. We put license plates on every car and
everybody has to have a license plate on their car even if they think
it violates their First Amendment Rights to do it.