From: glen mccready 
  To: Dead Beef <0xdeadbeef@substance.abuse.blackdown.org>
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 15:20:49 -0400

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 09:05:01 -0400
From: Keith Bostic <bostic@CS.Berkeley.EDU>
To: /dev/null@python.bostic.com
Subject: The Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act of 1995

Forwarded-by: carolyn meinel <cmeinel@unm.edu>

[It's worth noting for the purposes of this argument, that tr(1)
 obviously "encodes ... digital communications".]

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: Terry McIntyre <tmcin11@pittxpa.legent.com>

The richest person in the world is software maven Bill Gates. Software
is pretty big business, and we in America are doing pretty well at that
business - so far.

Somebody in Congress wants to change all that. At a time when computer
users worldwide are concerned about the privacy of their communications,
we are prevented from selling to that market. The "Anti-Electronic
Racketeering Act of 1995", proposed by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA),
would make it a crime to make available software that:

	encodes or encrypts electronic or digital communications to
	computer networks that the person distributing the software knows
	or reasonably should know, is accessible to foreign nationals and
	foreign governments, regardless of whether such software has been
	designated as nonexportable

Perhaps the Senator is so ignorant of the Internet that he does not know
that _any_ ftp site which is publicly accessible on the Internet (and
there are thousands) is accessible to _anyone_ on the 'net, anywhere in
the world.

Thus, this Act would make it is impossible to use this convenient and
inexpensive means of distributing any American software which protects
the privacy of its users.

Perhaps the Senator is also unaware that there exist mathematicians in
other countries, fully capable of producing competitive software which
does protect the privacy of its users. Such naivette, while a touching
testimonial to the Senator's faith in the United States, is quite out of
touch with reality.

At least, I hope that the Senator is ignorant of these facts.  Otherwise,
it would appear that, for reasons which make no sense to any patriotic
American, the Senator wishes to put America at a competitive disadvantage
with respect to the rest of the world.  I do hope that Pennsylvania's
Senators Specter and Santorum are not similarly inclined.

The Senator may believe that this bill would somehow dissuade
international terrorists from shopping around for effective encryption
software. The Senator is badly misguided; it would only limit the ability
of such parties to purchase such software from American vendors. It would,
at the same time, prevent American vendors from exporting their goods to
legitimate users. This makes just as much sense as telling General Motors
that it may not export vans, for fear that a van might somewhere be used
in a bombing. Wherever the Senator learned logic and economics, he would
be well advised to seek a refund.

Terry McIntyre
-- 
Terry McIntyre <terry.mcintyre@pittxpa.legent.com>