Re: MSNBC poll on crypto

["William H. Geiger III" <whgiii@amaranth.com>]

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In <v03007806afa1921a6fd1@[207.167.93.63]>, on 05/15/97 at 10:32 PM,
   Tim May <tcmay@got.net> said:


>At 5:55 PM -0800 5/15/97, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>>Should the United States
>>       remove restrictions on
>>       the export of powerful
>>       encryption technology?
>>
>>       * 283 responses
>>
>>       Unequivocally yes (84.1%)

>You left out the very next question:

>Should the United States allow unbreakable, military-grade cryptography to
>be used undetectably by child pornographers, terrorists, and money
>launderers?

>         * 283 responses

>         Unequivocally "No" (93.4%)


>You see, it all depends on how the question is asked. I have long argued
>that Americans are split, simultaneously, between two opposing world
>views:

>"What have you got to hide?"

>and

>"None of your damned business."

>Depending on the issue, or how the issue is phrased, either view may
>surface.

>I certainly don't trust opinion polls. If MSNBC conducts a similar poll
>after an Oklahoma City type of event, which we all have reason to suspect
>is about to happen in the next six or seven months, and crypto is found to
>be involved (seems likely), we can expect an opinion poll which arrives at
>the "What have they got to hide" conclusion.

>So?

>--Tim May


Well this is exactly why the Founding Fathers set up the form of government
that they did rather than going with a "pure" democracy. The intent was to
insolate the governing process from the lynch mob mentality. This is
doublely so with the Bill of Rights and the Amendment process. They are
there to provide a break on the "mob" and give time to reflect on the long
term consequences of perprosed actions.

Unfortunatly all 3 branches of government have desided that they nolonger
need to abide by the laws spelled out in the Constitution solong as it
politically expediant.

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William H. Geiger III  http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii
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