Re: [pointer] Senators Embrace Mandatory Data Keys
More shocking insights into how even people who should know better refer to members of the Senate of the United States of America as "your elected officials" on a North American newsfroup that used to be about current network issues... Of course Canada is the 51st state, Mexico is South America, and none of the Carribean, Bermuda, Greenland or St Pierre et Miquelon are entitled to be part of North America (and don't run networks anyway). Oh and besides, even if the country you are in doesn't have these problems, America's laws will override those in your tiny unimportant backwaters (like Germany or Japan) anyway, because only America upholds personal freedoms around the world. Oops, so I guess they ARE your officials (in that they can make you submit to their rules), and they are elected (by a surprisingly small number of U.S. citizens). My mistake. Sean. P.S.: If anyone other than Digex runs publically accessible looking glass software, would you mind dropping me a note? Several people in the 52nd state are thinking about doing the same and seek experience on access policies and overall usage figures. Sorry if this seems vaguely operational. I didn't mean it. Honest.
P.S.: If anyone other than Digex runs publically accessible looking glass software, would you mind dropping me a note? Several people in the 52nd state are thinking about doing the same and seek experience on access policies and overall usage figures. Sorry if this seems vaguely operational. I didn't mean it. Honest.
http://www.ipf.net/tools.html may have what you want. -- --bill
Some TGIF humor. Last message on crypto from me, I promise! --Declan ********** http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/opinion/0,1042,1344,00.html The Netly News Network (http://netlynews.com/) September 5, 1997 Stupid Senate Tricks by Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com) What do you get when you mix discussions of high technology and the Internet with the weak minds of the aging techno-half-wits in the U.S. Congress? Answer: a screwball dialogue that veers haphazardly between the idiotic and inane. From the infamous father of the Communications Decency Act to the California senator who confuses computer mice with real rodents, Washington lawmakers rarely have a clue about the technology they try to regulate. Now that Congress is back in session, the lawmakers will once again be muddling through press conferences and briefings with the help of hovering aides. But sometimes they try to make a go of it on their own -- and then the results aren't pretty. [...] Encryption, however, remains the topic most likely to transform articulate legislators into babbling birdbrains. In July, the House International Relations Committee was desperately seeking a metaphor to explain the effect of permitting the export of data-scrambling software. Then came the moment of bovine intervention: "Do we open the doors to let all the cows out?" asked one member. An FBI official replied, "There are many, many still left inside the barn." No, said Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif), "The cows are tromping all over America. Cows can replicate. They're being born all over the world. There's plenty of beef available!" When Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) was asked to define encryption, the results were horrific. "Well, I mean, to answer your question, I mean, encryption is -- the political equivalent of encryption is you ask me a question, I give you an answer and you don't understand it," he managed. "I mean, I intentionally garble the answer frequently. I intentionally garble the response so that you can't understand what I'm saying. And that's -- you notice that I've got the ability to do that." [...]
participants (3)
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bmanning＠ISI.EDU -
Declan McCullagh -
Sean M. Doran