From: Will Rodger <rodger@worldnet.att.net>
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 23:42:28 +0800
To: jsmith58@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: unSAFE won't pass?
In-Reply-To: <19970915030641.1770.qmail@hotmail.com>
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19970915112850.0384fa08@postoffice.worldnet.att.net>
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At 12:28 PM 9/15/97 +0000, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>
>John,
>
>You don't understand the dynamic. At the NatSec hearing last week, 
there
>were two dozen cosponsors on the committee. But all but one voted to 
gut
>the bill. Many others said they were hoodwinked into signing on.
>
>The tide is changing.


Jeez, I'm not trying to be contrary John or Declan, but here's my 
view:

The chance that more than a few hyper-busy members of Congress 
actually understand this way-arcane issue is nearing zero. Let's face 
it; many if not most members don't even use a PC. Based on what I've 
heard in hearings and from staffers, my seat-of-the-pants guess is - 
oh - let's say 30 of the 535 members in House and Senate really get 
this.

The rest are doing the best they can with limited information, most 
of the time responding to the last person they heard. Thus, 18 0f 22 
co-sponsors of SAFE went the other way after hearing from the FBI.

It's not so much that people are _changing_ their minds, it's that 
they still don't know enough to make an informed decision. Until the 
last few weeks, crypto never occupied the attention of more than a 
handful of the dozens of committees on the Hill.

Unlike most issues, crypto _is_ rocket science to these folks - as it 
is to just about the entire world.




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Will Rodger	                                 Dont' want it printed?
Cyberjournalist                                    Don't let it happen.
Optimist                                        Alles vergangliche ist 
Skeptic                                              nur ein Gleichnis.