🚀 go-pugleaf

>>       The major difference between guns and cars are that licensing and 
>>registration have not been suggested as a way to reduce the numbers of cars 
>>in private hands.  This has been said a number of times for guns. [...]

I'm afraid that the comparison of cryptographic key registration to the
registration of cars and guns can be misleading.

Possessing (and using) a car or a gun is a privilege and can infringe on
other people's rights. (Think of the possible fatal consequences of any
misuse; but even apart from the worst case, you would certainly get out
of my way if I moved in your direction, in a car/holding a gun, with a
grim look on my face, and you were unprotected ...)

So the main reason why a registration of cars/guns is compulsory in most
countries lies in the dangerousness of the thing itself; possessing and
(immorally) using either object threatens the other members of the
community. [I'm not going to address the question whether a ban or
registration of firearms is appropriate or not!]

Free communication, however, is IMHO not a dangerous device at all, and
therefore I don't see why it should be controlled by the authorities.

It's not to be compared with driving a motor car; rather with walking,
if you really want an analogy. (How about this: People shouldn't be
allowed to walk about and carry bags or even locked suitcases; they
could use the contents of these to commit a crime; and there have been
a number of cases reported where people actually transported daggers,
submachine-guns, or drugs ...)

Please don't engage in (albeit interesting) discussions about the
registration of guns, cars, planes, or what-have-you, thereby creating
false analogies and opening up new wealths of arguments for the
pro key registration lobby.

[This is not a flame and not directed at anyone; I'm just concerned.]
--
Detlef Lannert      DC3EK      E-Mail: tsos@rz.uni-duesseldorf.de
"Gedanken sind nicht stets parat,
man schreibt auch, wenn man keine hat."             Wilhelm Busch