The Sword of Damocles

["Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>]

The recent discussion of the dangers of PICS--especially the dangers that a
widely-deployed PICS system might encourage/enable governments to mandate
PICS ratings in various ways--is just one of several "swords of Damocles"
we have talked about for several years.

By a "sword of Damocles" I mean any technology or system which, if
deployed, could present an almost overwhelming temptation for governments
or special interest groups to direct in directions most of us would find
highly objectionable and even dangerous.

(I use the metaphor of this sword of Damocles--the king of some place
placed Damocles under a sword suspended by the thinnest of threads, to
remind Damocles of who had the power--because no other metaphor seems to
fit as well. Another metaphor is that of the danger of any technology which
could become oppressive by the "flip of a switch." For example, if key
recovery becomes widespread, with limited numbers of recovery centers, then
governments could quite easily use administrative or executive orders to
limit the options available for choosing such centers, or the licensing
requirements for such centers...by the "stroke of a pen" ("flip of a a
switch," or "flag day" in computerese), the voluntary system becomes much
less voluntary. At the most extreme level, nearly all of us would object
mightily to any system in which cyanide release systems were installed in
our homes, no matter the assurances that the cyanide would only be released
if proper legal orders were gotten!))

Some of the debates over crypto policy have involved people who don't see
what the concern is about future actions, who basically trust the
government to keep a system voluntary when it was promised to be voluntary.
(David Sternlight comes to mind...from 1993 onward several of us just could
not convince him that the Clipper danger lay in the potential for key
escrow eventually being mandated...he just kept focussing on the
"voluntary" aspects of Clipper sales, and thought our criticism of Clipper
as an attempt to interfere with "free markets." Nonsense of course, but
because of the "sword of Damocles" concerns, not the particular situation
at some present instant.)

To make this issue clearer, I'll just list several sorts of examples. Not
all are the same, but the themes are similar.

1. An implantable ID device is developed for humans, along the lines of the
"Pet I.D." chips which are already gaining wide acceptance. (And which
we've discussed several times on this list. See archives or use Alta Vista,
etc.)

While such a "voluntary" system is "unexceptionable" to most civil
libertarians, in the sense that libertarians do not object to the
non-aggressive choices of others to do with their bodies as they please,
there are clearly some "sword of Damocles" concerns. For example, a
widely-used system of implants could be mandated first for schoolchildren
(gotta stop those kidnappings), then for released criminals (part of
parole), then for deadbeat dads (don't want them to flee), then for other
classes.

This is of course a serious issue, despite some marginalization in the
press as being primarily a concern of the religious Right and their
fixation on "the mark of the Beast."

2. Key Escrow, a la Clipper, the latest Key Recovery plans, etc. Even if
announced as "voluntary," as of course Clipper was, our concern was largely
with the "sword of Damocles" aspects, that the government appeared to be
interested in driving out non-escrow alternatives and widely-deploying a
nominally voluntary system which could, at the stroke of a pen, become
mandatory.

The various issues surrounding key escrow have been so well-covered I won't
repeat points here. This is just a classical sword of Damocles issue.

3. Government regulation in general. Anytime the government gains the power
to regulate some product class or industry, there is this sword of Damocles
effect. A recent example is the area of _vitamins_, with the vitamin and
health food store industry vigorously fighting proposals that the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA)  step in to the "vitamin anarchy" arena and place
restrictions on vitamins, advertising, licensing, etc.

The sword of Damocles comes from the very real possibility that initially
quite "reasonable" limits will "open the door" for later, more draconian
actions. (Whew, I've mixed a couple of metaphors with a couple of classical
Greek allusions. Sorry.)

4. Gun control. Gun _registration_ is almost the canonical sword of
Damocles, in terms of what gun rights folks fear the most. They know that
once the locations and quantities of guns are known, it is a much simpler
matter for some later government to order such guns turned in to be melted
down. It happened in the 1930s in Germany, it happened in other countries
more recently, and it is even happening with the U.S. military "disarming
the civilians" in places like Somalia, Bosnia, Zaire, and any other place
the U.S. military is sent in as a "peacekeeper."

(Note: In Somalia, the U.S. disarmed the "soft targets:: simple farmers who
had rifles they'd had in their families for generations. This had the
tragic effect of making these very farmers then easier prey for jeeploads
of looters and Somali "soldiers," who often followed the U.S.
"pacification" squads and looted the homes and farms of the now-disarmed
villagers! Some tradition for the U.S. to uphold, eh? No "right to keep and
bear arms" for the peasants we are supposedly there to help.)

Whatever one thinks of guns and gun rights, clearly this is a good example
of why registration is fought by so many people, even if "assurances" are
given that the registration has nothing to do with confiscation. (Right.)

5. "Voluntary self-ratings." The PICS discussion, and earlier discussions
of "voluntary self-ratings" of CDs, videos, and other entertainment, brings
up these same issues of Damoclean swords. Could a nominally voluntary
ratings system be mandated by the courts, or by Congress?

Depending on the outcome of the CDA case, I think so. If the Supreme Court
upholds the CDA, it could be argued that anyone who fails to voluntarily
self-label his speech faces sanctions if anyone finds his speech in
violation of community standards, blah blah. (If one's speech is
"non-explicit," as, say, this post of mine is here, then of course it
almost certainly would not have to be self-rated...unless I said "Fuck," in
which case I'd better consult the various PICS ratings and pick one to
protect me to the maximum extent...I consider this scenario probable if the
CDA is upheld and a major step away from "free speech" and "cabeat emptor"
and a step toward wide self-suppression of controversial speech.)

So, these are various examples of "swords of Damocles." That is, systems or
technologies which are so potentially dangerous to deploy--in the sense
that governments, do-gooders, and lawyers are so tempted to make them
mandatory or to use coercion to drive out alternatives--that we should try
to anticipate the Damoclean dangers of such technologies and work to head
off such futures.

Cypherpunks don't trust governments which say "Trust us" or "We're here to
help." Governments, like that king in the myth, can cut that threat holding
up that sword with little effort.

"The Position Escrow System is voluntary. Citizen-units who wish to wear
the Localizer (tm) are encouraged to do so, This has been shown to help the
police in deterring kidnappings and is helping rescue units find lost
hikers and skiers. Those citizen-units who wish not to cooperate in such
efforts are free at this time to be rogues, but rogue-units will of course
be treated with more suspicion and the failure to wear a Localizer (tm) may
of course, as the Supreme Court ruled in 2003, be considered probable cause
for a search. And since there are now twice as many laws as there were in
1996, most citizen-units are choosing not to be rogue-units."

--Citizen-Unit Timothy C. May
ID: 7734%-sd123227-666
Location at 19:09 UCT: 37 02 30 N / 121 48 45 W


Just say "No" to "Big Brother Inside"
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."