Re: SAFE Bill discussion

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 5:47 AM -0800 5/2/97, Shabbir J. Safdar wrote:
>Ah, so here is the source of all the conspiracy theories:
>
>At 1:14 AM -0700 5/2/97, Greg Broiles wrote:
>>At 09:12 PM 5/1/97 -0400, Shabbir J. Safdar wrote:
>>
>>>I'm also puzzled by the fact that CDT is being criticized pretty much
>>>solely, even though the entire Internet Privacy Coalition, and several
>>>other groups all wrote a letter of support of the bill with only a
>>>criticism of one provision.
>>
>>I think this is occurring for two reasons:
>>2.	It strikes me as unlikely that all of the groups mentioned really sat
>>down and hashed all of this out - my hunch is that one or two of the groups
>>wrote up an analysis and a proposed letter, and asked the other groups to
>>sign on. A likely suspect for the/a group who did the behind-the-scenes
>>work is CDT.

Well, no. As the person who apparently triggered this latest round of
SAFE-cracking, I'll comment on why I focussed on CDT:

* it was CDT who was issuing most of the alerts, the letters, and the
cheerleadings. (If EFF had any such messages, I didn't see them, nor did I
see such alerts from the other organizations you mentioned as being
supporters of SAFE.)

* the CDT press release was a convenient message to respond to.

* the CDT Web site is where I've been finding the text of these bills
(thanks, of course, and I mean that).

I don't worry about nonense about whether CDT pulls the strings, though in
one of my later messages I _did_ say I think CDT will carry the baggage of
SAFE the way EFF carried the baggage of Digital Telephony. People don't
forget who's out in front.

--Tim May

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
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,
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"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."