NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/comp/society/privacy/857

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-24 | 2.9 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!computer-privacy-request
Date: 23 Dec 92 12:17:01
From: Stephen M Jameson <[e-mail]>
Newsgroups: comp.society.privacy
Subject: Re: Digital Licenses in NY State
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Organization: General Electric Advanced Technology Labs
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X-Computer-Privacy-Digest: Volume 1, Issue 119, Message 1 of 7
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (James Hess) writes:

>>Needless to say, I voted for the candidate who said we need to reduce
>>government rather than the one who wanted to expand it.
>>
>Not to question your politics, but remember that Bush was director of the CIA,
>which is not noted for its concerns for privacy or legality.  Ask yourself,
>which parts of government did he propose to reduce or expand?  Of course,
>if you run the country off the books, through Ollie North, you can reduce
>the visible government...  ;-)

I do question your politics, if you assume offhand that the Republican
candidate was the one most likely to reduce government.  Government has
expanded substantially under the previous Republican administrations, and will
doubtless expand at least as substantially under the upcoming Democratic
administration.  Any continued expansion of government is a potential threat to
privacy and to all other rights we hold, and is in fact a far more serious
threat than any other non-governmental threats that are discussed in this
group.  This is because while you at least have some choice about your dealings
with private organizations, you generally have none about the necessity to deal
with the government, i.e. you are truly forced to provide the information
simply, for example, to earn a living, or even, in the case of the census, for
being here.  The Libertarian Party, whose candidate Andre Marrou was on the
ballot in all 50 states, is the only major political group with an unambiguous
and consistent committment to the reduction of government and its concomittant
threats to all of our rights, including the right to privacy.


--
Steve Jameson                 General Electric Aerospace / Martin Marietta
[e-mail]           Advanced Technology Laboratories
                              Moorestown, New Jersey
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**  . . . but I do not love the sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow    **
**  for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory.  I love only that   **
**  which they defend . . .                                               **
**    -- Faramir, "The Two Towers"                                        **
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