From: Mike Godwin <mnemonic@eff.org>
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 93 08:47:45 PST
To: fnerd@smds.com (FutureNerd Steve Witham)
Subject: Re: Knights who say NII (was Crypto(A), govt & NII)
In-Reply-To: <9311300339.AA01336@smds.com>
Message-ID: <199311301642.LAA28431@eff.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


 
Steve Witham writes:

> Giving the government savvy advice, telling them they should do whatever
> will promote, say, competition or open forums...what effects will these
> have?  They may provide justifications, expertise and targeting info 
> for interventions, for instance.  New ways to get involved...
 
The government is already tempted to get involved, all the time. We can't
make the government go away by resolving that it would be nice if they
weren't around. Best to work from where we are, not where we'd like to be.

> I can't think of one positive thing (as opposed to the negative thing,
> disengagement) government can contribute to the goals of EFF.

Government is not the only potential source of harm--private industry can
be plenty harmful.

> The government can stop all the things it does that produce 
> centralization (it produces centralized capitalists, for instance), 
> but the most centralized organization in the world as the 
> decentralist's tool or ally doesn't seem workable to me.  The
> means clashes against the ends.

I don't see how. One actually can use a weapon to keep the peace, for
example.

> Telling a bull that he should make whatever 
> positive contributions he can to the china shop...is worse than just 
> not mentioning that there are none.

I think you're reasoning from your conclusions here, not toward them.
What's more, government ain't the only bull in this shop.


--Mike