11.11.1. Will proposed privacy laws have an effect?
+ I suspect just the opposite: the tangled web of laws-part
of the totalitarian freezeout-will "marginalize" more
people and cause them to seek ways to protect their own
privacy and protect themselves from sanctions over their
actions
+ free speech vs. torts, SLAPP suits, sedition charges,
illegal research, etc.
- free speech is vanishing under a torrent of laws,
licensing requirements, and even zoning rules
+ outlawing of work on drugs, medical procedures, etc.
- against the law to disseminate information on drug use
(MDMA case at Stanford), on certain kinds of birth
control
- "If encrytion is outlawed, only outlaws will have
encryption."
+ privacy laws are already causing encryption ("file
protection") to be mandatory in many cases, as with medical
records, transmission of sensitive files, etc.
- by itself this is not in conflict with the government
requirement for tappable access, but the practical
implementation of a two-tier system-secure against
civilian tappers but readable by national security
tappers-is a nightmare and is likely impossible to
achieve
11.11.2. "Why are things like the "Data Privacy Laws" so bad?"
- Most European countries have laws that limit the collection
of computerized records, dossiers, etc., except for
approved uses (and the governments themselves and their
agents).
- Americans have no such laws. I've heard calls for this,
which I think is too bad.
- While we may not like the idea of others compiling dossiers
on us, stopping them is an even worse situation. It gives
the state the power to enter businesses, homes, and examine
computers (else it is completely unenforceable). It creates
ludicrous situations in which, say, someone making up a
computerized list of their phone contacts is compiling an
illegal database! It makes e-mail a crime (those records
that are kept).
- they are themselves major invasions of privacy
- are you going to put me in jail because I have data bases
of e-mail, Usenet posts, etc.?
- In my opinion, advocates of "privacy" are often confused
about this issue, and fail to realize that laws about
privacy often take away the privacy rights of _others_.
(Rights are rarely in conflict--contract plus self-privacy
take care of 99% of situations where rights are purported
to be in conflict.)
11.11.3. on the various "data privacy laws"
- many countries have adopted these data privacy laws,
involving restrictions on the records that can be kept, the
registration of things like mailing lists, and heavy
penalties for those found keeping computer files deemed
impermissable
- this leads to invasions of privacy....this very Cypherpunks
list would have to be "approved" by a bureaucrat in many
countries...the oportunites (and inevitabilities) of abuse
are obvious
- "There is a central contradiction running through the
dabase regulations proposed by many so-called "privacy
advocates". To be enforceable they require massive
government snooping into database activities on our
workstatins and PCs, especially the activities of many
small at-home businesses (such as mailing list
entrepreneurs who often work out of the home).
"Thus, the upshot of these so-called "privacy" regulations
is to destroy our last shreds of privacy against
government, and calm us into blindly letting even more of
the details of our personal lives into the mainframes of
the major government agencies and credit reporting
agenices, who if they aren't explicitly excepted from the
privacy laws (as is common) can simply evade them by using
offshore havesn, mutual agreements with foreign
investigators, police and intelligence agencies." [Jim
Hart, 1994-09-08]
11.11.4. "What do Cypherpunks think about this?"
+ divided minds...while no one likes being monitored, the
question is how far one can go to stop others from being
monitored
- "Data Privacy Laws" as a bad example: tramples on freedom
to write, to keep one's computer private
11.11.5. Assertions to data bases need to be checked (credit,
reputation, who said what, etc.)
- if I merely assert that Joe Blow no longer is employed, and
this spreads...
By Tim May, see README
HTML by Jonathan Rochkind