Supreme Court on Anonymous Bills

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$.02 (fiat) on Talley v California  (recently posted here)
 
It is important to note that this court is expected to significantly
reverse some of the landmark cases from the Warren era.  We should,
therefore, to look to the dissent at least as much as to the court.
 
There can be little question that any attacks on remailers and civilian
strong crypto will face challenges on the basis of Free Speech and Equal
Protection.  The question is: can the state show compelling interest?  I
believe that it can.  Anonymous agents, by their very nature, are immune
from state restraint.  Since our entire legal system centers around state
restraint, I believe that Free Speech and Equal Protection will fall to the
four horsemen.
 
When we consider the decision, we note that one of the main reasons for
voiding the ordinance on its face was that there were other remedies to the
problems that the ordinance claimed to address.  No such other remedies
will exist in our case, that being part of the point of our systems.
Considering the dissent, we see even more room, with the question of Equal
Protection might not be extended on the basis that only electronic
communications were hampered.
 
There is the general question of political speech.  Unfortunately, there is
little anonymous _US_ political speech.  Furthermore, sedition is a crime,
and if the Founding Fathers printed the same things against our government
that they did against England (they could do more), they would face a
number of criminal charges.
 
 
I believe, therefore, that both the court and the dissent bode poorly for
anonymous encrypted mail.
 
 
But these are not the only arguments we have.  We have the questions of
Enforcablity, Distinguishability, Privacy, and the Right to Bear Arms.
One may argue with some force that it may be impossible to determine if a
person is sending and receiving information (and requests for information)
directly, or if they are acting as an anonymizing agent.  One may argue
with great force this difficulty, combined with the nature of the InterNet,
would make general enforcement impossible--leading to the same type of
failure as the Prohibition.  One may argue forcably that the tools
necessary to allow anymous encrypted traffic are the tools necessary to
preserve the barest elements of privacy.  Finally, since strong crypto has
been ITAR limited, one may argue that the tools required are militia-type
weapons, and as such, protected Arms.
 
 
Finger or request keyserver for PGP 2.6.2 (tm) key.
PGP<->Mail/News installation incomplete.
 
Factors for modulous are not proven primes.  Key may be far weaker than
expected.  Encode at your own risk.
 
Key ID: 14712B4D 1994/12/26 Nathan H. Zook <nzook@bga.com>
Key fingerprint =  44 B3 D8 66 3D 55 1E 2E  F8 92 22 A6 33 8C DE 24 
 
 
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Nathan Zook wrote:

> There can be little question that any attacks on remailers and civilian
> strong crypto will face challenges on the basis of Free Speech and Equal
> Protection.  The question is: can the state show compelling interest?  I
> believe that it can.  Anonymous agents, by their very nature, are immune
> from state restraint.  Since our entire legal system centers around state
> restraint, I believe that Free Speech and Equal Protection will fall to the
> four horsemen.

But mail and messages from "foreigners" is also "immune from state
restraint," and yet we haven't seen either a ban on mail from outside
the U.S. or a requirement that such mail be inspected, identified,
etc.

(I'm not sure if your line "our entire legal system centers around
state restraint" refers to state constraint of citizens, as you seem
to imply in your conclusion, or constraint _of_ the state, as the
Constitution seems to imply.)

Likewise, if I receive a letter, open it, and find a request to remail
it to another address, isn't this equivalent to our remailers? Does
this imply a compelling State need to open all mail?

Does the plotting of various crimes in private homes imply a
compelling State need to place microphones and video cameras in such
places?

Clearly not, so I don't think the privacy of e-mail will soon be
breached just because there are some abuses in some people's minds.

> There is the general question of political speech.  Unfortunately, there is
> little anonymous _US_ political speech.  Furthermore, sedition is a crime,
....
> I believe, therefore, that both the court and the dissent bode poorly for
> anonymous encrypted mail.

But anonymous handbills are quite common, posted all over the place
here in my home town, and the Supreme Court ruled quite properly that
identities are not required for speech. Likewise, radio call it shows
are dominated by anonymous call-ins.

Ditto for "Name Witheld by Request" letters to the editor, etc.

Lots of speech is not anonymous, because Congresscritters are
identified, because Rush Limbaugh obviously _wants_ his name
publicized, because I want my name attached to my views, etc. But not
because there's any law saying political speech cannot be anonymous.

Quite the contrary.

--Tim May

-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
                       | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
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