[MUD-Dev] Wild west (was Guilds & Politics)

[Michael Hohensee]

Stephen Zepp wrote:
> 
> I had to jump in here a sec:
> 
> 3) Your comment about the FBI is a two-edged sword.  The FBI ( along with a few other agencies ) is responsible for
> counter-industrial espionage, in addition to counter-intelligence within the borders of the US.  The "clipper" chip, and
> other concepts are very misunderstood by the public:  Primarily, the _concept_ ( there are a lot of ideas for
> implementation ) is not to be able to monitor _anything_.  Just like legal wiretapping, reasonable cause will be
> required, and a warrant issued to obtain the encryption keys ( in most proposals held by the Department of Standards, or
> some such, in any case a completely non-justice oriented gov't. department ).  They're not gonna ever get free reign, at
> least not legally.
> 

Ahh, but the definition of "legal" is fluid, is it not?  New laws can be
made at any time.  Furthermore, and even more frightening, is the fact
that many government agencies operate *illegally*.  A petty (but real)
example is the dept. of moter vehicles in N.H.  By law, state residents
can choose whether or not to give their social security number when they
get their license (I've seen the statute).  Yet the dept. operates as if
it were mandatory, and refuses to give you you license without it.

That's why I, and many other people, fear giving government new
abilities.  Regardless of how many good intentions go with it, it *will*
be misused.

--
Michael Hohensee       michael at sparta.mainstream.net
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/9025/
      Finger me for my PGP Public Key, or use: 
http://sparta.mainstream.net/michael/pgpkey.txt