worth reading djf John Gilmore on national ID cards and freedoms of assembly, travel [priv]

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 13:59:29 -0800
To: <Kenneth_Mayer () Dell com>
Cc: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: FW: [IP] John Gilmore on national ID cards and freedoms of
assembly, travel [priv]

> I question why he so little time to put his obvious talents to something
> more important. As Americans, we should not be too unhappy to show our
> ID when asked, what do we have to hide? If you don't it should not be a
> problem. This just seems to be a case of someone who has lots of money
> and nothing else to do.

As Americans, we have torture of innocents to hide.  We have
indefinite detention of thousands of people after 9/11 to hide.  We
have racial and religious profiling of Muslims to hide.  We have
secret blacklists to hide.  We have corruption in high places to hide.
We have pedophile priests to hide.  We have wars of occupation to hide.
We even apparently have secret laws to hide.  But you were talking
about personal secrets, not societal secrets.

Why would I not want to be announcing my every movement to a
government that has such policies?  May of the servers you build or
sell or support (at Dell) are capable of storing and retrieving a
database to record on every American's movements.  Why would I not
want those record available to a government that chooses to ignore its
own laws, imprison its own citizens in defiance of the courts, etc?
Let me spell it out for you.

When a government is benign, interfering little with its citizens, and
is just and is seen to do justice, then its citizens are likely to
trust it.  They won't mind letting it know many things about themselves.
When a government is irrational and intrusive, when corruption goes
unpunished, when it accuses others of evil while doing those same evils
itself, when civil rights disappear without warning, then its
citizens should be more circumspect, at least if they want to stay
alive and free.  It's easier to administer a police state if you have
complete and up-to-date records about every person; it may be
impossible to administer one in the absence of such records.  The mere
act of creating such records makes it likely that corrupt people would
be drawn to positions of power, where they could use those records
to gain even more power.

As I said, my job is to be the canary in the coal mine.  I will feel
these restrictions before you do.  I feel them already.  My point is
that when you notice that the canary is gasping for breath, because it
is more sensitive to poisonous vapors than you are, perhaps you should
take steps to help yourself, because it's likely that your own
breathing will soon be affected.

You may have no secrets and no vices.  But is everyone close to you a
similar paragon?  You have no siblings who are secret adulterers, no
kids who have stolen from the neighbors, no college friends who
support themselves selling drugs, no co-workers who beat their wives
when they get drunk, no gay friends who would suffer if "outed"?  No
ex-roommates who ever donated to a Muslim charity?  You haven't
attended a Passover celebration?  Your TV wasn't tuned to the Pope's
last speech?  Your kids don't hang around with the kids of people who
went to anti-government or anti-globalization protests?  You never
attended an engineering school at the same time as a suspected
terrorist?  Some of these things shouldn't need to be secrets, but in
various societies, each has been enough to get you locked up,
discriminated against, killed, or exiled.  What secrets do you have to
hide for those who you love?  Or for those you merely brushed up
against in society?

 John




------ End of Forwarded Message


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