[1283] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Wayner op-ed in today's NYTimes
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steve Simmons)
Tue Jul 29 23:03:16 1997
To: cryptography@c2.net
From: scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons)
Date: 29 Jul 1997 22:44:56 -0400
sameer <sameer@c2.net> writes:
> At the time they Constitution was written, they wrote a 3rd
>amendment, which banned putting troops in your home, because those
>troops were used to "spy" on dissidents. They didn't know about
>wiretaps, but they banned them in principle.
I respectfully disagree. I am not a historian, but I'll play one on the
net for a paragraph.
The provisions on quartering troops was in reaction to a common English
way of provisioning armies -- they simply foisted them off here and
there on the populace. The troops paid neither room nor board, so it
was potentially quite a hardship even if they were well-behaved. This
was one of many grievences the colonials had against the English.
As for the spy utility of an armed, uniformed soldier stationed in your
house -- well, I suppose there were people dumb enough to talk in front
of them. But the real revolutionaries no doubt did their discussions
away from prying ears. :-)
--
``It was wrong for the hotel satellite dish to end up in the elevator,
but you'd think they would attach it to the roof a little more securely.''
-- From Bruce Schneiers report on a hackers convention
