From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 08:30:50 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: [SCARE]:  "If you only knew what we know..."
Message-ID: <adca03eb020210043329@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 5:53 PM 5/23/96, jim bell wrote:

>Well, he must have learned it all in the last few months, because his bill
>was the closest thing to DOA that we've seen in a long time, exceeded only
>by GAK 3.  I'd like to hear from him what the source of the text of the
>Leahy bill on encryption really was:  Who pressured him to make it so bad?

"If you only knew what we know..."

("...you wouldn't support encryption, you wouldn't push for privacy
legislation, you would order all citizen-units to have tatooed ID numbers
on their arms...")

Though I normally avoid "Wired," I did pick up the latest issue to skim
through. A couple of good things, actually, including a nice summary of the
state of crypto laws, etc. (I don't recall the author, as I didn't buy the
issue.)

A great discussion of the Deepest and Darket Secret in Washington, the
special "If you only knew what we know..." briefing given to legislators,
staffers, etc. to convince them of the Evils of Cryptography.

Paraphrasing the "Wired" item, "No person who has ever received "The
Briefing" has ever again argued forcefully for the rights of citizens to
use strong cryptography."

I surmise that either Sen. Burns has not yet been given The Briefing, or he
is for some reason more resistant than most other burrowcrats to the scare
tactics used in The Briefing.

I sure would like to know what's in this briefing.

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist         | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."