From: David Sternlight <david@sternlight.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 21:50:53 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Subject: Re: Netscape download requirements
Message-ID: <v0300760dae15983c7aa8@[192.187.162.15]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>
>At 1:47 AM -0700 7/19/96, Cerridwyn Llewyellyn wrote:
>
>>
>>>I'd bet on the first.  Why screw with this?  We worked hard
>>>to make this possible and you want to ruin it.  Sheesh.
>>
>>Because freedom doesn't come in degrees, it's all or nothing.
>

Wrong. Society has long made a distinction between liberty and license, and
"freedom" is a definitional and even societal-situational thing that keeps
advancing. Check out history. Read some Supreme Court decisions of the more
thoughtful kind.

>
>>
>>>"I hate the government so I'll blow up a federal building
>>>and then the FBI will get more money and attention and
>>>power and, um, that'll show 'em, er, ah....."
>>
>>Exporting crypto-systems and killing people is comparing apples
>>and hand grenades.  Please come up with a relevant analogy.
>

It IS relevant in the underlying principles it illustrates. That the
details aren't of the same magnitude is irrelevant. Didn't you learn
"reductio ad absurdum" in school?

>
>>
>>1)  Please don't chastise individuals who take direct action and use
>>civil disobediance as a measure to change bad laws and policies (ie by
>>making your companies software available internationally).  When
>>done on a mass scale, the long-term benefits FAR outweigh the short
>>term consequences.  While you as a corporation find it much more
>>difficult to take such actions, as they would most likely ruin your
>>corporation, individuals acting in this capacity cannot be ruined quite
>>so readily.
>

It is ludicrous for some cypherpunks to try to compare their "cause" with
freeing the slaves or overthrowing a tyrannical and abusive dictator. In
fact it is romantic fantasy. Not every prosecution is of Jean Valjean; not
every arrest for speeding is the destruction of freedom as we know it. Not
every theoretical consequence is a current abuse. "Trust everyone, but
always cut the cards" is a better guide for living in a democratic society
than "distrust everyone and insist on all or nothing".
>

Essentially, one who opposes or deliberately sabotages Netscape's
compromise with full ITAR deregulation is a fascist in that he is trying to
force his will on those of his fellow citizens who want to download the
secure US version in the US, and deny _them_ _their_ rights.

David