Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Dan Gillmor's

Author:Kurt Granroth
Posted:9/27/1999; 3:31:47 PM
Topic:Dan Gillmor's
Msg #:11508 (In response to 11474)
Prev/Next:11507 / 11509

That sounds an awful lot like the "if you criminilize guns, only criminals will have guns" argument that a lot of people reject...

I'll admit that it sounds similar.. but there is a HUGE difference between the two situations. It is possible to argue that outlawing guns would stop the flow of guns to criminals IF you assume that criminals can't make the guns themselves. In other words, if there aren't any guns made legally, then even criminals won't be able to easily find them.

Note that I don't necessarily agree with the above argument.. but I have heard it.

This, of course, is TOTALLY false when it comes to encryption. Say all legal encryption becomes illegal. One could GUARANTEE that some "criminal" with a math degree and a compiler would write some illegal encryption. There is no possible way one could completely ban all encryption...

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