From: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 07:47:54 +0800
To: "Declan B. McCullagh" <sandfort@crl.com>
Subject: Re: LIST OF SHAME VOLUNTEERS
Message-ID: <m0u1GxP-00090nC@pacifier.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 01:22 AM 3/25/96 -0500, Declan B. McCullagh wrote:
>E. Clark writes:
>> I neither like nor trust the bill and, after the Digital Telephony 
>> Bill and its manner of passage, my trust in the good senator is zero.
>
>I spoke to a couple folks about this at the CDA hearings in Philadelphia
>last week. Word on the streets from those who would know is that the
>Leahy Bill has NOT A CHANCE IN HELL of passing, and so is worth
>supporting to raise awareness of crypto.

This is a dangerous position to take.  Many people have killed themselves, accidentally, thinking "the gun isn't loaded!"  

This said, I see nothing wrong with fixing and improving the bill and only then supporting it.

>After DT and Clipper, it's our chance to put Clinton and the DoJ on the
>defensive for a change.

If the Leahy bill "has not a chance in hell" of passing, then what's wrong with CORRECTING it.  Given this assessment,I doubt whether such changes would reduce its chances.

BTW, remember that one of the reasons its chances are rated as "not a chance in hell" is that the two constituencies who might normally support this bill, the crypto/software businesses and ourselves, see its promises as being weak and its negatives as being large. Without them, who else is there to support it?

Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com