🚀 go-pugleaf

s0rah@exnet.co.uk (R A Hollands) writes:
>In article <1992Oct27.214344.25766@tessi.com> george@tessi.com (George Mitchell) writes:
>>denning@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu (Dorothy Denning) writes a spirited
>>defense of the trial balloon.
>>
>>I'll leave the response to that well-known radical, Benjamin Franklin:
>>
>>"Those who give up a little liberty to obtain safety deserve neither
>>liberty nor safety."
>>
>>-- George Mitchell (george@tessi.com)
>
>Do you have children?  Did Benjamin Frankiln when he said this?  Do you
>have crime in your area?
>
>Fortune has my hostages.  I'll take a little safety thanks.

Pardon my mentioning this, but I doubt your children have been mugged
lately by thugs armed with cryptography machines. I suspect that none
of the crime in your area will be altered one whit by the ability of
the government to listen in on people's phone calls.

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. Mafiosi do not go out and direct teams of muggers and
rapists to terrorize your neighborhood. Even were organized crime
responsible for much of the problems in your neighborhood, only a fool
would imagine that men who murder for a living would care one whit
about registering their private keys with the government. In short,
you are gaining no safety at all for your children. 

What you are doing is trading your children's rights away and gaining
nothing whatsoever in return. It looks like a bad deal to me.  When
they find themselves grown up in a world where they are slaves to the
government, which has grown invincible because of its Big Brotherish
ability to monitor every move, a government that can no longer be
overcome because any attempt at rebellion will be watched and crushed,
will they thank you, or curse their own father for selling them into
slavery?

--
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