[1520] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
The economic consequences of government stupidity.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Perry E. Metzger)
Thu Sep 18 09:08:43 1997
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 09:04:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>
To: cryptography@c2.net
Reply-to: perry@piermont.com
THIS IS A RANT.
In an Op/Ed piece in today's New York Times, Thomas Friedman contrasts
the economic situation in Israel, where high technology communication
systems like cell phones and, even more importantly, the Internet,
have insulated the economy against disruptions to the tourism and
agricultural industries brought by regional unrest, with Syria, an economic
basket case where cell phones and the internet are prohibited.
We may laugh at this stupidity, but there is plenty of it here in the
United States. In the name of stopping a handful of crimes, the de
facto restriction of cryptographic technology via export controls has
caused mammoth financial losses to the economy via fraud and reduced
opportunities for economic innovation -- the amount is at least in the
billions of dollars.
It seems even now that congress is starting to give in to the
lie-filled briefings of the national security establishment, the
innuendo about the "Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse" using
cryptography for nefarious purposes, and the rest of the
bestiary. Senator Diane Feinstein actually mentioned -- with a
straight face -- child molesters when justifying her votes against
cryptography. Child pornographers, drug dealers, terrorists and others
are naturally all being trotted out.
No one once mentions that cryptography is overwhelmingly used as a
DEFENSE against crime. It is as though we were to outlaw bank vaults
because criminals sometimes store money in them.
Make no mistake -- the restriction of cryptography will result only in
a society which is less safe and economically stunted.
I'm sure that the Syrian government has all sorts of justifications
for their bans on cell phones and the internet, by the way. The art of
bad government is to justify laws which harm the nation as being
necessary for the good of the people.
Perry
