The Core Problem

2001-10-4 03:58:00

First let me clarify that in my last post I was speaking of people in general on both sides of the equation and was not referring to your beliefs unless specifically mentioned. I hold your vigilance for freedom and your perception of truth in the highest esteem.

I cannot see much disagreement in our views. The points you make that take government off course have to do with bad law rather than freedom of surveillance.

Detaining a foreign national unjustly could happen whether or not there are any powers of eavesdropping. My point is that surveillance by itself has little effect on freedom.

A just government can have complete power to eavesdrop all it wants and yet if its laws and people are just they could be the freest society on the earth.

An unjust government could have no legal power of surveillance, yet be corrupt and arrest all enemies of the state with little or no surveillance or other data.

Openness and exposure of information is not the core problem. Bad law and unjust authority is the problem.

If we make the right to privacy the main area of our vigilance for freedom we are putting our energies away from where the crux of the problem exists.

One of the greatest protections we have for our freedoms is the free flow of information, but every benefit has its downside. The downside is the more power we have to spy upon government, the more power it also has to spy upon us.

The only time we have to worry about the government spying upon us is not because of breaking just law (murder theft, etc.), but because of bad law and a government who may have no respect for law in relation to itself. If this situation exists on a wholesale basis, yes then a right to privacy is important, but even here the core evil is not surveillance, but corruption.

This evil will not be corrected by insisting on privacy, but exposure of corruption and taking steps to educate the populace.

If you have a truly corrupt government then privacy laws will mean nothing for the powers that be will break the law and do what they will.

I would support the right to use encryption for U.S. Citizens, but make it illegal for foreign nationals until the current crisis is resolved and terrorism is under control.