Lessig Predicts Cyber 9/11 Event, Restrictive Laws 479
A number of readers are sending in links to a video from the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference last month, in which Lawrence Lessig recounts a conversation over dinner with Richard Clarke, the former government counter-terrorism czar. Remembering that the Patriot Act was dropped on Congress just 20 days after 9/11 — the Department of Justice had had it sitting in a drawer for years — Lessig asked Clarke if DoJ had a similar proposed law, an "i-Patriot Act," to drop in the event of a "cyber-9/11." Clarke responded, "Of course they do. And Vint Cerf won't like it." Lessig's anecdote begins at about 4:30 in the video.
Re:Encryption (Score:2, Informative)
Until the US government demand ISPs start blocking all encrypted traffic that doesn't have an SSL certificate provided by 'authorised' suppliers.
Remember that to stop someone doing something, non-essential: not eating or breathing, you just need to make it hard enough to be not worth their while. An example of this is the Chinese firewall, people know the government are watching, so they don't bother looking at anything that isn't authorised. In this case, if nerds start demanding everyone encrypt everything, they'll be ignored. Who can be arsed to purchase an SSL certificate, just to run a small Web site, or IM their friends?
Re:And that would basically mean the death of I.T. (Score:4, Informative)
The US tourism is recovering now, due to the falling dollar.
Re:And that would basically mean the death of I.T. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:vote for Barack Obama, goddamn it (Score:5, Informative)
Bob Barr? You're worried about a nanny state so you want to vote for Bob Barr? The guy wants to control your bedroom and your religion. He led the fight for the Defense of Marriage act (he won that). He led the fight to try and get the Army's first Wiccan Distinctive Faith Group disbanded (he lost that one). He's a real "Christian Nation" kind of guy. He's was a huge supporter of the War on Drugs and opposed to medical marijuana. He's recanted that last bit, I'll admit, but his overall pattern is on of a guy who supports people's liberties only when they fit into his personal moral code.
I like some of his stances, but he has a habit of converting to a a stance in favor of rights only after he has voted to take those rights away. He regrets his PATRIOT act vote, and his medical marijuana work, but it's too late now, he already voted to put them in place. Add tot hat the fact that the Libertarians would demolish the what little control the government still exercises on Corporate America and I have to say Barr scares the Hell out me.
Re:Just wait ... (Score:5, Informative)
What makes you think Obama will be any better? He's already shown us that he thinks national security is more important than the rule of law. But the rule of law is a prerequisite for any kind of security! The fact is, both candidates are part of the authoritarian corporate class.
Re:Godwin Jr's Law (Score:3, Informative)
Nah, this is plain old Godwin.
Any story that involves the Patriot Act will have it compared to the Order of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State [wikipedia.org].
Course, its an apt comparison but still holds with the original law.
Re:So, who originally wrote it ? (Score:1, Informative)
Who wrote it ? In which administration ? Curious minds want to know.
It was obvious to me in 2001 that this had been previously prepared, and it astounded me that anyone would fall for this BS.
Unfortunately, history indicates they would probably do it again.
Before he became the self-promoting book-selling prophet of 9/11, Richard Clarke was raising the alarm of a "digital Pearl Harbor":
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/12/08/security.summit.ap/ [cnn.com]
Re:Would this be enough to make us move? (Score:3, Informative)
You will be taxed on all your assets if you give up your US citizenship [thestreet.com]
. This little-known provision was passed as part of the Heroes Act of 2008 on 6/17. Looks like Congress foresees a mass exodus of Americans at some point in the foreseeable future - at least the ones that matter.
Re:Anonymous Coward (Score:1, Informative)
Uh. Check your history. Your thesis seems iffy, almost backwards.
The IRA merrily targetted high-profile commercial financial targets like the London Stock Exchange itself and other parts of the City, Manchester city centre, the docklands, etc. Doing billions of british pounds of damage for each bomb(truck-sized, btw, typically about a tonne of low-yield explosives), and killing surprisingly few civilians (warnings to evacuate usually telephoned in in advance).
Whereas the islamic terrorists in Britain have managed to kill tens of "common man" people on the tube and bus and did relatively little commercial damage. The WTC attacks in the USA are another matter, but it seems highly likely the US government wanted that "reichstag" type event to justify fascism.
Re:Just wait ... (Score:5, Informative)
The average state tax on gasoline in the United States was 28.6 cents per gallon in the first quarter of 2008. During the same period the gasoline tax in Germany was 7.6 dollars per gallon and 5.2 dollars per gallon in the United Kingdom.