From: HyperReal-Anon <nobody@sind.hyperreal.art.pl>
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 22:49:55 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: What was the quid pro quo for Wassenaar countries?
Message-ID: <0dea998db811e35a157aa07c3d640710@anonymous>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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"Phillip Hallam-Baker" <hallam@ai.mit.edu> writes

   John Gilmore may be right, but remember folks that in Europe we
   have this thing the Greeks invented called democracy. One of the
   ideas of democracy is that decisions are not made in secret closed
   meetings.

Yes, and people democratically demand government enforcement of the
majority will, something made more difficult if the subjects have
strong cryptography.

As Donn Parker observed several years ago, strong cryptography is
inconsistent with democracy.  (Published in Scientific American ---
reference on request.)

John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com> writes

   Some countries actually seem to care what their citizens think
   about their crypto laws, unlike the shining example of democracy,
   the USSA.  And when we educate the citizens, they tend to make the
   right choices.  Let's keep trying.

But don't educate them too much, or they will understand that
cryptography can set people free, and if people were free there would
be no political government, and if there were no political government
their social security checks would stop coming, along with all their
other government ``benefits''.