🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec17.223042.15115@news.eng.convex.com> gardner@convex.com (Steve Gardner) writes:

>	The only intelligence collection damaged by secure cryptography
>	in the hands of citizens is intelligence collection that shouldn't
>	be done.  You make it seem as if other governments would be deterred.
>	Of course not.  Governments, which are the "legitimate" targets of
>	our spies can use secure cryptography with ABSOLUTELY NO FEAR OF
>	PROSECUTION.  It is the unfortunate citizens of our incipient
>	police state that have to fear prosecution.  The war being conducted
>	these days is not against foreign powers but against the citizens.
>	Anything that gives the citizen an edge in that war is GOOD.

I'm afraid this is an oversimplification. There are many whom
the government has reason to collect intelligence on who cannot
use secure cryptography with no fear of prosecution.

I sympathize with the desire for honest citizens to have secure
cryptography. I count myself in that number. To believe this
does not, however, mean that one should deny governments'
legitimate interest in this matter, and their taking of
cryptographic violations of munitions laws much more seriously
than the building of airplane models.

David