From: Charles Platt <cp@panix.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 12:27:20 +0800
To: Charles Platt <declan@well.com>
Subject: Re: Extremely Disappointing: Political Cryptography
In-Reply-To: <33A9D7F3.BACEB3DA@healey.com.au>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.970620000629.13057D-100000@panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



On Fri, 20 Jun 1997, Benjamin Grosman wrote:

> yet another example of those ill-educated in
> a particular matter succumbing to either a knee-jerk political reaction,

Agencies such as the FCC, FAA, and FDA were created to make policy
recommendations in technical areas were politicians aren't qualified. If
we're really going to have government stomping all over the Internet, it's
crazy that there isn't an appropriate agency to make appropriate policy
recommendations in this area, which is more technical and developing more
rapidly than fields such as aviation or food&drug, where senators and
congresspeople generally accept advice from presidential appointees who 
collaborate with industry.

I'm not saying I _want_ an agency making decisions for us; only that it 
would be slightly less hideously exasperating than our present situation, 
where technoliterates are being ruled by technoilliterates.

The FCC actually made some halfway decent decisions determining standards
in broadcasting, before the agency became terminally incestuous and
corrupt. We might get two or three good years out of a Federal Internet
Agency, depending who was appointed to run it. 

--CP