From: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 18:25:53 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: The Right to Keep and Bear Crypto
In-Reply-To: <v02130500ae78384961a4@[10.0.2.15]>
Message-ID: <v03007802ae78d63d5916@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


(I know I said I would try to avoid posting today, to make up for
necessarily sending my party announcement to the list, but this is too
important a topic to be silent on. I almost always agree with newcomer
Steve Schear, but on this point I think he is dead wrong.)

At 3:30 PM -0700 10/2/96, Steve Schear wrote:
>A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
>the right of the people
> to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
>                                 --Constitution of the United States of
>America,
>                                 Amendment II, 1791
>
>I'm not a consitiutional scholar, but it seems to me that since the
>government has already classed crypto as arms via ITAR and since the I am
>guaranteed the right to bear arms I choose to bear the crypto of my choice
>as part of my arsonal.

I've argued since 1992 on Usenet and here that "crypto as arms" is a
potentially dangerous tack to follow. (Others, including legal experts,
have also argued this point.)

Given that it is well-established, whether we agree or not, that the USG
may restrict private ownership of atom bombs, nerve gases, CBW weapons,
machine guns, switchblade knives, nunchuk sticks, and various other "arms,"
the association of crypto with armaments is potentially *DISASTROUS*.

A far better strategy is to associate crypto with *speech*, which most
people seem to think has stronger protection. And, truth be told, I view
encrypted communications as a helluva lot more like a form of communication
than I view it as a cousin to my Heckler & Koch .45 USP.

In my view, equating crypto with armaments is exactly what the USG would
like to see happen. This legitimizes their control of crypto.

--Tim May

We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I 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,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."