[comp.org.eff.talk] \

jonl@pro-smof.cts.com (Jon Lebkowsky) (12/24/90)

In-Reply-To: message from cirby@vaxb.acs.unt.edu

We've talked about how the government can monitor presumably private uses of
data, but maybe we should consider WHY they want to do so. It might be useful
to understand their mind-set. From John Perry Barlow's writings in Whole Earth
Review and Mondo 2000, where he discussed the Secret Service raids and FBI
interest in 'hackers,' it was apparent that these agencies don't know a lot
about what we're doing with data...certain interests convinced them that what
hackers do could be potentially threatening, but they misunderstood the limits
and the impact of the activities they were investigating. Thinking, for
instance, that Steve Jackson's 'Cyberpunk' game was a plan for data crime.

We shouldn't see the government side of this a faceless bureaucracy...the
government, including Secret Service and FBI, is not a machine but a set of
people trying to do a job they think is important. They may be wrong-headed,
paranoid, and stubborn, but they are capable of reason. If we don't attempt a
direct dialog with them to define the issues we are probably making a mistake.
The courts are an important resort but not necessarily the only resort. (Also
not the last resort...we still need legal definition of the issues).