Re: YAA (yet another article)

At 11:18 AM 6/16/93 -0500, Jason Zions wrote:

>Legalize drugs and prostitution and the Mafia will dry up and blow away.

Amen. It was a real eye-opener to see the statistics on legal wiretaps
(the ones they tell us about, anyway). The vast majority, and I do mean
vast, are related to drugs. A distant second was gambling, and I think
"racketeering" was in there somewhere (not sure what makes that distinct
from "drugs" these days).

>>Hellman has an ingenious idea that might appeal to those concerned
>>about civil liberties. He would require not one but three judges to
>>authorize a Clipper wiretap. A judge could answer the request with
>>"Yes," "No or "Oh, my God!" The latter means, "This looks like an
>>attempted abuse of power, as in Watergate."

I must admit I'm disappointed to hear Hellman say something like this.
Every time somebody comes up with a "new" or "improved" key escrow scheme,
they give implicit approval to the whole basic idea of key escrow. Which
is fundamentally unacceptable in *any* form.

Although his idea may appeal to some naive people, I wonder how many have
actually seen any search warrant affidavits. I read the one for Steve
Jackson Games, and you certainly wouldn't know from that that they weren't
all guilty as sin. Too bad it was completely defective.

Do I sound like I don't place much faith in the warrant requirement acting
as a meaningful safeguard? You bet!

Phil

Phil Karn writes:
 
> Do I sound like I don't place much faith in the warrant requirement acting
> as a meaningful safeguard? You bet!

I agree with Phil that, in practice, the warrant requirement is a very
thin reed on which to base our Fourth Amendment rights. The magistrates
who review warrant applications tend to accept uncritically what they're
told by the government officials seeking the warrant.

Hellman's proposal would address only the most obvious and most extreme
abuses.


--Mike