FC: Judge Kozinski replies to Politech post on judges and spying

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Sun Sep 09 2001 - 09:49:39 PDT

  • Next message: Declan McCullagh: "FC: More on Unix has turned one billion! (seconds, that is)"

    Previous Politech message:
    
    "Judicial bureaucrats retreat, say judges won't be spied on"
    http://www.politechbot.com/p-02485.html
    
    ********
    
    Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001 01:02:06 -0700 (PDT)
    From: The Easy Rider <kozinskiat_private>
    To: Thomas Leavitt <thomasleavittat_private>
    cc: declanat_private
    Subject: Re: FC: Judicial bureaucrats retreat, say judges won't be spied on
    
    I've responded to the 300+ people who've written to me
    directly.  I haven't responded to posted comments.
    My response is that I try to make things a little better in
    the corner of the world where I have some control.  I hope
    that this will set a good example for others, but I think
    it's silly to dump on someone who's trying to move in the
    right direction because he can't change the entire world to
    suit their preferences.  By that rationale, nothing would
    ever get changed.
    
    One of my major concerns in this matter is that if we adopt
    the most intrusive policy for our employees, we're more
    likely to approve it for others as well, when the issue
    arises in cases before us.  So telling us that we ought to
    suffer just like everyone else is a prescription for
    ensuring that everyone else will continue to suffer.
    
    This whole thing reminds me of the joke about the guy who
    got a genie in a bottle and the genie granted him one wish.
    The catch was that whatever he got, his neighbor would get
    double.  So the guy asked the genie to remove one of his
    kidneys.  I grew up with thinking like that in Romania and
    basically I find it stupid and narrow-minded.  It comes from
    people who have not the courage to fight their own fights,
    or stand up for their own rights, and get satisfaction from
    pulling everyone else down.  These kinds of people only
    succeed if someone leads the way for them, and even then
    they will complain that the leader got there first.  I call
    them whiners.
    
    Feel free to post this.
    
    Ciao.  AK
    
    
    On Sun, 9 Sep 2001, Thomas Leavitt wrote:
    
     >Sorry for the lack of clarity.
     >
     >If you go to the WSJ OpinionJournal article, where your article is
     >published, there is a link that says, "Respond to this article." Your
     >article has provoked quite a few responses, most of which essentially accuse
     >you (and other federal judges expressing a concern about this monitoring) of
     >hypocrisy for advocating a standard for employees of the judiciary that is
     >not applied to other federal employees, or employees in the private sector.
     >
     >I share your concerns about the monitoring of federal employees, and I also
     >share the anger of many of these folks at the intrusiveness of their
     >employers, etc.
     >
     >I was curious as to whether you had a response to the reactions expressed by
     >these folk.
     >
     >Regards,
     >Thomas Leavitt
     >
     >
     >--
     >Thomas Leavitt -- thomasleavittat_private; ICQ #16455919
     >http://www.internetmanifesto.org/
     >http://www.sczenkarate.org/
     >http://www.space.org/
     >http://www.gnosis.org/
     >
     >Wired since 1981. Internet enabled since 1990. Web enabled since 1993.
     >
     >
     >
     >>From: The Easy Rider <kozinskiat_private>
     >>To: Thomas Leavitt <thomasleavittat_private>
     >>CC: declanat_private
     >>Subject: Re: FC: Judicial bureaucrats retreat, say judges won't be spied on
     >>Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 23:55:58 -0700 (PDT)
     >>
     >>
     >>
     >>Sorry, I'm lost.  Am I asked to respond to something?  If so
     >>what--is there a link I'm not seeing?
     >>
     >>Ciao.  AK
     >>
     >>On Sat, 8 Sep 2001, Thomas Leavitt wrote:
     >>
     >> >It is indeed a splendid letter! Thank you for sharing it!
     >> >
     >> >I find the responses posted on the site to be quite interesting. I am
     >>very
     >> >curious as to what the judge's response to them would be.
     >> >
     >> >Thomas
     >> >
     >> >--
     >> >Thomas Leavitt -- thomasleavittat_private; ICQ #16455919
     >> >http://www.internetmanifesto.org/
     >> >http://www.sczenkarate.org/
     >> >http://www.space.org/
     >> >http://www.gnosis.org/
     >> >
    
    
    
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
    You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
    Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
    To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
    This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sun Sep 09 2001 - 09:55:51 PDT