From: "Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 1997 06:30:06 +0800
To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Subject: effective GACK fighting
In-Reply-To: <v03102809b07aa62a7746@[207.167.93.63]>
Message-ID: <199711012215.OAA17651@netcom4.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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the key battles will be waged in the courtrooms after any
laws get passed. frankly, I admit I am stunned with the
seeming ease with which various bad laws get passed. in my
youthful naivete I would have thought that an unconstitutional 
bill, or one with the slightest doubt, wouldn't even be
remotely *considered*. 

but what the last crypto bill 
runaround showed rather shockingly was that it is 
horrifyingly easy for bad bills to make it far into 
the legislative process, and a kind of frankensteinan
process can occur in which a bill ends up being manipulated
far beyond or to the direct opposite of 
its original intentions. moreover, virtually no congressmen
any more care about whether a law is constitutional--
it's a concept that is trampled underfoot in all the lobbying and
powermongering.

hence, I think we need to rely more on the courtroom-- it's
the only "language" that bureacrats understand. extremely 
expensive, but more effective. it forces us to put our money
where our mouths are. "the price of liberty is eternal vigilance"
and a lot of cash as well. the PRZ case proves the public
can support such a campaign. also tactics
as used by Softwar such as the FOIA attack approach. 

I predict that there are going to be major lawsuits of interest
to the cypherpunks in the near future. the telecom industry
is dragging its feet over implementing the orwellian FBI
digital wiretap law, last I heard. this is a big story that
Wired et. al. have not noticed imho. the telecom industry
from what I can tell considers it a bureacratic nightmare and
stalling as much as possible. just wait until it gets to the
point they feel like turning loose their armies of pit-bull
lawyers. these are companies that consider litigation virtually
part of their job description.

so the major GAK lawsuit might go like this. joe sixpack
uses a GAK system but "superencrypts" on top of it. fbi
gets a warrant but cannot read his mail, tries to prosecute
him on "obstruction of justice" or whatever, unrelated to
any actual crime. joe sixpack sues the FBI for violation
of the first amendment rights. it would be a great spectacle.

increasingly I think we should not be so alarmed when
orwellian laws pass. we need to fight them tooth and nail
in the beginning, but in many ways a court victory such as
with the CDA can be far more compelling to the government
bureacrats than lobbying.

and of course there is the "guerilla tactics" that everyone
here is so fond of advocating, which I think have some
appropriateness in some forms. even Gandhi advocated
"widespread civil disobedience"