Re: Crypto moves forward: Commerce Dept panel and SAFE markup

[Ernest Hua <hua@chromatic.com>]

> Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 18:17:09 -0400
> To: fight-censorship-announce@vorlon.mit.edu
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
> Subject: FC: Crypto moves forward: Commerce Dept panel and SAFE markup

> It also creates new criminal penalties for using encryption to
> further a criminal act ...  Remember that Maryland bill that would
> criminalize sending "annoying" or "harassing" email? If the
> Goodlatte bill became law, Marylanders who signed their messages
> with PGP or telnetted to local ISPs could be slammed with an
> all-expenses-paid trip to the Federal pen for five years ...  In
> other words, SAFE would turn state misdemeanors into Federal
> felonies.  This is not good.

Ok.  So it's kind of bad in this respect, but let's face it ... we
can't have everything OUR way, the FIRST time around.  Washington
politics is just not that way (not that you need such a reminder).

> A coalition of groups is sending a letter to Goodlatte tomorrow supporting
> the bill but expressing concern over the criminalization provision.
> Interested in signing on? Email David Sobel: sobel@epic.org.

Let's let the legislative process (whatever you think of it) take its
course.  I'll be happy even if they sneak some screwy secret committee
on the final bill, as long as we are not subject to that committee or
any other governmental body just because we allow ftp of C source code
by our off-shore friends.

Ern

-- 
Ernest Hua, Software Sanitation Engineer/Chief Cut And Paste Officer
Chromatic Research, 615 Tasman Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1707
Phone: 408 752-9375, Fax: 408 752-9301, E-Mail: hua@chromatic.com