Silly me ...

About 2 years ago, I attended CFP in San Francisco (really San Mateo,
but who's counting), and I ran across a presentation by an ex-Justice
Department dude named Kent Walker presenting the government's side of
the encryption/wiretap debate.

He really seemed nice enough, and I tried to chat with him.  My topic
was how could a good meaning hacker help good meaning government dudes
figure out details to policies so that everyone is happy.

Little did I know at that time that this is the same Walker that was
quoted by Meeks as saying cute lil' gems like ...

    "If you ask the public, 'Is privacy more important than catching
     criminals?' They'll tell you, 'No.'"

... and ...

    "It's easy to get caught up in the rhetoric that privacy is the
     end all be all."

After a little bit of frustration, I wrote him off as someone cashing
in on his Justice days to be some VP of government relations (a.k.a.
lobbyist) with Air Touch.

Perhaps there is something slightly more spooky with this character
than I originally thought.

Ern

I have no idea if this is in reference to some thread I missed, but I
think it's unfair.

The evidence of this will be this year's CFP, chaired by the same Kent
Walker.


On Wed, 11 Dec 1996, Ernest Hua wrote:

> About 2 years ago, I attended CFP in San Francisco (really San Mateo,
> but who's counting), and I ran across a presentation by an ex-Justice
> Department dude named Kent Walker presenting the government's side of
> the encryption/wiretap debate.
> 
> He really seemed nice enough, and I tried to chat with him.  My topic
> was how could a good meaning hacker help good meaning government dudes
> figure out details to policies so that everyone is happy.
> 
> Little did I know at that time that this is the same Walker that was
> quoted by Meeks as saying cute lil' gems like ...
> 
>     "If you ask the public, 'Is privacy more important than catching
>      criminals?' They'll tell you, 'No.'"
> 
> ... and ...
> 
>     "It's easy to get caught up in the rhetoric that privacy is the
>      end all be all."
> 
> After a little bit of frustration, I wrote him off as someone cashing
> in on his Justice days to be some VP of government relations (a.k.a.
> lobbyist) with Air Touch.
> 
> Perhaps there is something slightly more spooky with this character
> than I originally thought.
> 
> Ern
> 

A. Michael Froomkin        | +1 (305) 284-4285; +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax)
** Away from Miami -- and at times from the 'net -- Dec. 12 to Jan. 8 **
Associate Professor of Law |
U. Miami School of Law     | froomkin@law.miami.edu
P.O. Box 248087            | http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin
Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA | It's warm here.

I'm not sure which part of my message you feel is unfair.

The quotes come from:

    http://cyberwerks.com:70/0h/cyberwire/cwd/cwd.94.01.30.html

Incidentally, when I said "VP", I was exaggerating.  I think he became
a director at Air Touch.

Ern

> I have no idea if this is in reference to some thread I missed, but I
> think it's unfair.
>
> The evidence of this will be this year's CFP, chaired by the same Kent
> Walker.
>
> > Little did I know at that time that this is the same Walker that was
> > quoted by Meeks as saying cute lil' gems like ...
> >
> >     "If you ask the public, 'Is privacy more important than catching
> >      criminals?' They'll tell you, 'No.'"
> >
> > ... and ...
> >
> >     "It's easy to get caught up in the rhetoric that privacy is the
> >      end all be all."
> >
> > After a little bit of frustration, I wrote him off as someone cashing
> > in on his Justice days to be some VP of government relations (a.k.a.
> > lobbyist) with Air Touch.
> >
> > Perhaps there is something slightly more spooky with this character
> > than I originally thought.