[Politech] Two replies to column about Congress can't code good laws

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Thu May 13 2004 - 22:01:54 PDT

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    -------- 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 <chey@private>
    To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private>
    References: <40A3C95D.1020006@private>
    
    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 <HLin@private>
    To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private>, <politech@private>
    
    
    
    
     >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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