From: Julian Assange <proff@suburbia.net>
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996 16:35:06 +0800
To: jimbell@pacifier.com (jim bell)
Subject: Re: Bernstein hearing: The Press Release
In-Reply-To: <199609220525.WAA21842@mail.pacifier.com>
Message-ID: <199609220647.QAA13187@suburbia.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


> >There may be certain circumstances under which speech can be directly harmful.
> >Military operations and missle launch codes are things that should be kept
> >secret.  Information about high-powered weapons should be too.  If the 
> Japanese
> >had been able to get information about how to build A-bombs during WWII, major
> >cities in the U.S. probably would have been completely wiped out.  I don't 
> like
> >the idea that the government has the power to decide what's harmful and what
> >isn't, but there are beneficial uses of the provision.
> 
> The few examples that exist, as you've selected them above, seem to be 
> almost entirely based on military secrets in time of war.  It is not clear 
> whether a non-security clearance civilian is restricted in any way, nor 
> should he be.

You must remember there is a distinction to information in-confidence,
and information generated independntly. It is only the breech of confidence
that should be penalised, not the information itself.

-- 
"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely  exercised for the good of its victims  
 may be the most  oppressive.  It may be better to live under  robber barons  
 than  under  omnipotent  moral busybodies,  The robber baron's  cruelty may  
 sometimes sleep,  his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who  
 torment us for own good  will torment us  without end,  for they do so with 
 the approval of their own conscience."    -   C.S. Lewis, _God in the Dock_ 
+---------------------+--------------------+----------------------------------+
|Julian Assange RSO   | PO Box 2031 BARKER | Secret Analytic Guy Union        |
|proff@suburbia.net   | VIC 3122 AUSTRALIA | finger for PGP key hash ID =     |
|proff@gnu.ai.mit.edu | FAX +61-3-98199066 | 0619737CCC143F6DEA73E27378933690 |
+---------------------+--------------------+----------------------------------+