🚀 go-pugleaf

jbs@watson.ibm.com writes:
>         Perry Metzger said:
>>People mention the need to crack down on "organized crime", but I have
>>never been a victim of "organized crime". Few people have. Organized
>>crime is based on things that are victimless, like prostitution and
>>gambling. ...
>         This is nonsense.  Organized crime is also based on things
>like insurance fraud, bankruptcy fraud, loan fraud, theft rings,
>monopolies maintained by illegal intimidation etc.  These are not
>victimless and almost everyone is adversely affected directly or
>indirectly.  I myself see little danger in widespread availability
>of secure encryption systems, however you do your cause no good by
>making ridiculous statements like organized crime has few victims.

The vast bulk of the profits made by organized criminal activities
operating in the United States are from victimless crimes, vis,
prostitution, gambling, and drugs. Certainly there are other activites
that are persued by active criminal conspiracies. However, all this is
besides the point.

The original poster contended that to keep his children safe from
street crime he was willing to allow this proposed invasion of
privacy. Street crimes, meaning rapes, muggings, and the like, are not
and never have been a significant facet of organized crime in America.
John Gotti did not make his money by sending out teams of rapists. He
didn't even do it by sending out pickpockets -- thats 19th century
stuff. Muggers do not cary encryption machines. Street crime is not
going to go away because we register our private keys with the
government, if indeed any crime will go down. As has been noted, the
mafia is well financed and would have little reason to obey any
anticryptography laws, for the same reason they rarely obey things
like tax laws. If you are already the sort who murders people, a
little thing like not paying any taxes or failing to register your gun
or your private keys isn't really going to phase you too much.

--
Perry Metzger		pmetzger@shearson.com
--
"They can have my RSA key when they pry it from my cold dead fingers."
Libertarian Party info: Phone 1-800-682-1776, E-Mail 345-5647@mcimail.com