Posted on 08/29/2002 6:42:05 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
American citizens have many encryption options available, as do the terrorists. Despite which fact, the government can decode those messages if they have a warrant and really, really want to find out what is being communicated.
Tortured analogies aside, do you think the government should give up all wiretaps as a tool of law enforcement?
It might not be a bad idea. Nearly all wiretaps are now about victimless crimes like the war on some drugs, gambling, and selling guns. I'd settle for a ban on taping US citizens without a warrant, to include email. If the Clinton administration had not actively pressured US industy against encryption, we would very likely all now be enjoying strong encryption. We may yet. As you mentioned, you can get still get encryption. It has not been made illegal yet. It can be broken, with considerable difficulty. I understand that we are not having much luck with Al Queda, for example, too much traffic and not enough processor time, let alone people with clearances who can read Arabic. The difficulty of breaking strong encryption at least limits the governments efforts to those cases in which it is really, really interested, instead of wholesale eavesdropping and the building of databases.
I view everything I put on the net as viewable by the authorites, and I advise everyone I know to do the same.
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