From: Derek Bell <dbell@maths.tcd.ie>
Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 06:28:13 +0800
To: CP <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: Re: The Four Horsemen Go to the Olympics!
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960727112449.29476A-100000@condor.depaul.edu>
Message-ID: <9607272054.aa22855@salmon.maths.tcd.ie>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


In message <Pine.SOL.3.91.960727112449.29476A-100000@condor.depaul.edu>, Nathan
 Syfrig writes:
>This is very worrysome, as it truly is a "world stage" event that could 
>really serve to galvanize various governments into uniting against strong 
>non-escrowed crypto.  Hey, it will look good for the international PR, 
>never mind the fact that not everybody will be so 'diligent' in registering 
>their keys and/or use the "approved" crypto.

	Depends how quickly they track down the bombers, a quick arrest gives
little incentive, but a drawn-out search may encourage a knee-jerk response.

	Seeing as this is an election year, Clinton may try to make himself
look more decisive to avoid accusations of indecision, so he may introduce some
harsh measures.

	Here's an aside about Irish politics:

	About a month ago, one of Ireland's top journalists was shot dead; the
suspicion fell on one of Dublin's crime bosses. (Veronica Guerin investigated
organised crime in the last few years.) Now there is a lot of legislation being
rushed into place that I think is badly thought out (e.g. extending detention
to seven days with a judge's permission, weakening the right to silence in drug
cases) and I think it will lead to innocent people being jailed with little
effect on the crime bosses. (I don't think there is a government cover-up in
this case, just a panic.)

	The assasination was the catalyst for harsh measures, though the Irish
government hasn't had the catalogue of events like the Oklahoma bombing to
make it move towards the draconian end of things, though that is weakening.
(True, there is the situation where the government response to IRA behaviour
has been very strict, for instance censoring Sinn Fein and IRA, though that
case of censorship was dropped a couple of years back. The patronising side
of Irish political culture probably dates back to the '20s, when the state was
founded, and the '30s or '40s when the latest draft of the constitution was
drawn up.)

	(For what it's worth, the Irish Government seems to have little or
no opinion on encryption, though one TD seems to be for censoring certain
sites. TD = a member of the Irish parliament.)

>And of course, this country just purchased another IBM computer for 
>"nuclear simulation".  Gee, I wonder what else that power might be used 
>for?  (but then again, it's from IBM, purveyor of the Olympics computer 
>services)

	There's an IBM ad running on British TV stations where Spinal Tap
decide to get IBM to help them with their current tour. One reason is that IBM
is doing this for the Atlanta Olympics. O, the irony!!! (Spinal Tap seem to
have survived their trip to Springfield.)

	Derek - enough rambling for now