-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Politech] Weekly column: Why Congress can't code good tech laws
Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 15:53:25 -0400
From: Chey Cobb, CISSP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Declan McCullagh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
References: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Declan, I couldn't agree with this opinion more strongly! In my work with the government, I found that most politicians (and political appointees) have no desire to understand the core of new technology - even when given the chance. Case in point ... when I was on the review committee of the new computer security regulations for the intelligence communities (DCID 6/3 http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/DCID_6-3_20Policy.htm), I tried to get inaccurate and misleading explanations of technology changed to reflect correct and appropriate explanations. I submitted alternate text numerous times, only to have my changes completely dismissed. In the end, I discovered that the person show was in charge of the final text had no technical expertise whatsoever. In his former position he had been a high school English teacher. ('Nuff said.) Chey
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [Politech] Weekly column: Why Congress can't code good tech laws
Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 15:34:11 -0400
From: Lin, Herb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Declan McCullagh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>http://news.com.com/2010-1014_3-5209091.html > >Bad laws, bad code, bad behavior >May 10, 2004, 10:00 AM PT >By Declan McCullagh > >A congressional hearing on Internet porn last week illustrates what >happens when politicians try to ban technology they don't like or >understand.
Remainder eliminated...
== This is a standard complaint of the cyber-libertarians - and quite understandable. But the solution usually proposed - for the politicians/policy makers to stay out - simply does not reflect reality. The operational choice you have is - get involved in some way to educate the policy makers (in which case they have a better chance of passing more informed laws), or stay away from the tainted enterprise (in which case ill-informed laws will be more likely to pass).
That's reality - and politech fans have to deal with it.
Herb (personal views alone)
[I think Herb has spent too long in DC and has gone native. My complaint is not a "cyber-libertarian" one, but common to folks with technical backgrounds who have to interface with the clue-impaired political class. Also, I explicitly proposed a solution in the rest of the column I did not excerpt -- not "stay out" but a better way to craft laws. --Declan]
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