[lug] Re: [CLUE-Talk] Colorado Senator Wayne Allard (fwd)

[J. Wayde Allen]

This thread has been circulating over on the CLUE lists.  

- Wayde
  (wallen at its.bldrdoc.gov)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 23:00:57 -0600
From: Charlie Oriez <coriez at oriez.org>
Reply-To: clue-talk at clue.denver.co.us
To: clue-talk at clue.denver.co.us
Subject: Re: [CLUE-Talk] Colorado Senator Wayne Allard

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On Saturday 15 September 2001 21:37, you wrote:
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> Fellow Linux Users of Colorado:
>
> "History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times
> of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to
> endure." - - Justice Thurgood Marshall, 1989

"People who sacrifice their liberties for security usually end up 
with neither liberty nor security" -- Ben Franklin, lots earlier

"Today the primary threat to the liberties of the American people 
comes not from communism, foreign tyrants or dictators.  It comes 
from the tendancy on our own shores to centralize power, to trust 
bureaucracies rather than people." -- George Allen, Governor of 
Virginia

> I am gravely concerned because I believe public cryptography, such
> as GnuPg will become outlawed for the "security of our citizens".
>
> I am concerned that the "hacker" operating system Linux will become
> illegal due to the proposed Security Systems Standards and
> Certification Act (SSSCA).
>

good stories in Wired on the bill by Declan McCullough:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46655,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46671,00.html


You are not the first to reach that conclusion that SSSCA could in 
fact outlaw linux.  Anyone with contacts in South Carolina should 
encourage Sen Hollings to desist from introducing it.  The major 
national I.T. professional organizations are putting together a joint 
letter to Hollings.  I'm coordinating that for AITP, though ACM is 
taking the lead role in drafting the language and actually getting 
the letter out the door.  Anyone reading this who is a leader of a 
local chapter of a national org can contact me off list about what it 
might take to be added as a signatory (assume IEEE, ACM, AITP 
covered).  

A similar letter to Allard and Campbell could perhaps be put together 
under CLUE's leadership, if CLUE sees that as part of your role, or 
under someone else's leadership if not.  I'll work with anyone 
interested in preparing it, and assist with my local major org 
contacts.  Diane Degette is on an important House committee on this 
issue.  Anyone want to meet with her as part of a delegation?



> We Linux and cryptography users must act now to prevent additional
> erosion of our individual civil liberties.
>
> This week, folks in Colorado want to know "what they can do". 
> Well, we may not be able to dig through the rubble of the WTC, but
> we can act now to preserve our liberty during this time of crisis. 
> I urge you to write Senator Wayne Allard and express your opinion
> about his "Statement on the Terrorist Attacks in Washington and New
> York" (link above).

We need to stop this before it hits the floor of the Senate with the 
momentum that a committee-passed bill has.  While it is in the 
drafting and discussion phase, it's easier to derail or fix (as fix 
is defined in veterinary medicine). 



- --
Ich bin ein New Yorker
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