Re: Free markets and crypto

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

I of course agree with Tim. Corporations are merely voluntary collections
of individuals.

As for civil rights laws: in my dark moments, I want to add a button to my
web page: "Only click here if you are (or are not) Irish." Or "No African
Americans allowed." Or "Nobody over 60 years old permitted." I wonder,
would I be in violation of Title 7?

-Declan


At 08:29 -0700 7/1/97, Tim May wrote:
>Unfortunately, there is a growing distinction being made between "voluntary
>transactions" of _people_ and of _corporations_.
>
>(The most stunning example of this, as Declan of course knows, being the
>"Title 7" stuff in the Civil Rights Act, which takes away a person's right
>to associtate with persons with whom he wishes to associate--he can't
>choose to hire only Chinese, or no cripples, or only Mormons, and so on.)
>
>And in the crypto debate, the term "market" has mostly been interpreted by
>people to mean: Netscape, Microsoft, PGP, RSADSI, C2net, Verisign, etc.
>
>I don't believe corporations have any more rights--or any more
>restrictions--than individuals do. So in this sense I agree with Declan's
>point. But my view is in a minority.
>
>Thus, care is warranted when discussing "market solutions."