Re: House National Security committee guts SAFE, worse than no

Jonah Seiger wrote:

> The Administration WANTS legislation to impose key recovery and wants
> continued export restrictions.  It has passed the Senate Commerce
> Committee, it's in the current export policy, and the FBI is likely to get
> it approved by the Intelligence committee tomorrow.
> 
> If they succeed and mandatory key recovery becomes law, there will
> certainly be court challenges (and CDT would join that fight), but it won't
> be as clear cut as the CDA case was, and it's doubtful we would have the
> strength (and the resources) of as broad a coalition of plaintiffs.  We may
> be right, but that doesn't guarantee victory.

  *IF* they succeed? (You been on extended vacation?)

  Any bets that the double-secret guys nab a suitcase-nuke carrying 
dark-skinned person a few days before they need to win a crucial vote
in the war against the citizens?

Double-SecretMonger

So, the House is moving toward drastically tightening non-escrowed crypto
use, via the export laws and the invocation of "national security
considerations." And the Senate is moving toward a complete ban on
non-escrowed crypto. The civil rights groups are now cut completely out of
the picture. The only issue now is whether the full ban on crypto makes it
into the compromise deal. (I'm bettting it won't, as this would be too bold
even for Congress. On First and Fourth Amendment grounds, if nothing else.)

But Something Big is coming down.  Even if domestic strong crypto is not
fully banned, expect a series of moves to make it very unpalatable for most
upstanding citizen units to use. And corporations will be "disincentivized"
to use crypto, except that approved by Washington.

(I wonder what will happen to PGP, Inc. and RSADSI? And to MS and NS?
Probably, cynics will suggest, they are already ramping up their "trusted
third party" and "key recovery" efforts. If so, I hope Phil Z. adheres to
the promise he made publically at a Cypherpunks meeting, and quits PGP,
Inc.)

At 11:54 AM -0700 9/10/97, Anonymous wrote:

>  Any bets that the double-secret guys nab a suitcase-nuke carrying
>dark-skinned person a few days before they need to win a crucial vote
>in the war against the citizens?
>

Yep, they need a Reichstag fire. To nudge any recalcitrant Congresscritters.

I'm not (yet) paranoid enough to think the spooks would pull off another
OKC or World Trade Center bombing. But arranging some convenient arrests
would be par for the course.

The Congress hopes to conclude business before the end of November, I've
heard. The full Senate and House will likely vote on the final version of
the "Children's Safety Act," the one which will throttle crypto exports
still further, will criminalize crypto use to the point that few
corporations will dare use it (this is the real strategy), and will move
toward a complete ban on domestic unescrowed crypto.

They'll need some dire threat or significant event to get the vote they want.

I'm thinking it may involve us. The 5-6 months they've had to "debrief"
Bell, to convince him that squealing on anarchists and information
terrorists, and money laundering advovactes, and felons, could mean a
series of indictments will come in October/November.

Whether their charges will "stick" or not is not really the point, is it?
The trial, if one is ever held, will take place many months or even years
after the charges are filed.

Personally, I say everyone who has been active in discussing how to
destabilize and overthrow the fascist governments in Washington, Paris,
Bonn, London, and so on should prepare. In the U.S., prepare for a series
of pre-dawn raids.  In the European People's Republics, I'm not sure what
defensive measures are even possible.

Perhaps I'm being overly paranoid. But even paranoid Cypherpunks have
enemies...and I call them Freeh, McCain, Kerrey (and Kerry), Denning,
Clinton, Dellums, Kyl, Swinestein, and all the rest of the war criminals.

We're at war.

--Tim May

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Tim May wrote:
> 
> Yep, they need a Reichstag fire. To nudge any recalcitrant Congresscritters.

[...]
 
> They'll need some dire threat or significant event to get the vote they want.

I have been thinking about this for days now. They are using the same tired
four horsemen stories they used in 1992. They need something new. 
Something fresh.  Something that conveniently makes the news the week
before the vote. 
 
> I'm thinking it may involve us. The 5-6 months they've had to "debrief"
> Bell, to convince him that squealing on anarchists and information
> terrorists, and money laundering advovactes, and felons, could mean a
> series of indictments will come in October/November.

Somehow I sense they need an event a bit more photogenic than an
indictment. Of course the would prefer bodies. Nothing works stronger PR
magic than bodies of dead children. Then again, perhaps some footage of
the rifles impounded from the Crypto Militia, as the press releases will
call the group, might suffice. Together, perhaps with the corpse of one of
their "leaders". 

> Whether their charges will "stick" or not is not really the point, is it?
> The trial, if one is ever held, will take place many months or even years
> after the charges are filed.

There are two main reasons why there might be no trial: they drop the 
charges or there is no defendant left alive to be put on trial...