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Re: The problem of playing politics with our constitutional rights]





On Fri, Sep 12, 1997 at 12:06:35AM -0800, John Smith wrote:

> 
> Why do you say that?  Clipper was defeated.  People all over the net
> united and opposed it.  Now there is this new threat, but at least
> defeating Clipper bought some time.  There is no reason the same
> thing can't happen again.
> 
> Sometimes I think cypherpunks *want* crypto to be outlawed.

No.  Cypherpunks *expect* it will be outlawed.  And it will be yet
another largely uneforceable restriction.

Sure you can run around and trumpet about how bad it is that your
government is going to outlaw cryptography.  You can rant at the
fundamental unconstitutionality of it.  You can try to convince
legislators who don't even know what a mouse is that outlawing crypto
is a bad idea.

If it makes you feel good and you think its a valuable effort, knock
yourself out.

Personally, I'd like to see more disposable remailers, more
stego,continued development of the eternity server and similar ideas,
and an implementation of untraceable anonymous digital cash.  

(We have until Jan. 1, 1999)

Phil Z. didn't release PGP to show how much he disliked Clipper or
join in some unified opposition.  He released it to beat the
government's efforts to the punch and get unrestricted strong crypto
into the hands of anyone who wanted it




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