Maybe it's just me, but just based on the comments posted in response to this story, I think it is safe for anyone to conclude that slashdot users are extremely biased, to the point of their arguments not making much sense. If one reads the resposes to other articles, one comes to the conclusion that the situation is much, much worse. But, I digress.
Two things are taking place on the message boards of slashdot as a whole. Either fewer messages are getting moderated up to 3, 4, or 5, or simply posts that are not "insightful" or "funny" are being moderated as being so. Let's take the posts in this posting as an example. Casually perusing through the contents of the message board lead one to the conclusion that there are two types of posts that are being posted largely: (1) The "hey, Osama Bin Ladin uses rubber ducky's in his bathtub, so lets outlaw them" post, or the sad attempt at parody post. Yes, maybe the first person who comes up with such a comment (namely, Cmdr Taco) was funny, but then it's just stupid. (2) The "Obviously this is a plot by the US to restrict encryption more". Let's focus more on this second type of post. Based on absolutely no factual evidence, numerous people have concluded that this story was "made up" by the US government in an effort to convince the public that encryption is necessary. Despite the fact that most Americans don't have a memory extending past a week ago, this argument has several major flaws. I feel that it makes sense that Osama Bin Ladin, as well as all terrorists, would use encryption when discussing plots that he doesn't want others (the US government) privy too. Also, many people are making the very common mistake (at least on Slashdot) or assuming that the United States is the whole world, or at least the only important part of it. I highly doubt that Osama Bin Ladin has lax US regulations to thank for his ability to use encryption (It's not like US encryption regulations are loose anyway).
If Cryptography is outlawed, only outlaws will use cryptography. Oh, and Osama Bin Ladin.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe it's just me, but just based on the comments posted in response to this story, I think it is safe for anyone to conclude that slashdot users are extremely biased, to the point of their arguments not making much sense. If one reads the resposes to other articles, one comes to the conclusion that the situation is much, much worse. But, I digress.
Two things are taking place on the message boards of slashdot as a whole. Either fewer messages are getting moderated up to 3, 4, or 5, or simply posts that are not "insightful" or "funny" are being moderated as being so. Let's take the posts in this posting as an example. Casually perusing through the contents of the message board lead one to the conclusion that there are two types of posts that are being posted largely: (1) The "hey, Osama Bin Ladin uses rubber ducky's in his bathtub, so lets outlaw them" post, or the sad attempt at parody post. Yes, maybe the first person who comes up with such a comment (namely, Cmdr Taco) was funny, but then it's just stupid. (2) The "Obviously this is a plot by the US to restrict encryption more". Let's focus more on this second type of post. Based on absolutely no factual evidence, numerous people have concluded that this story was "made up" by the US government in an effort to convince the public that encryption is necessary. Despite the fact that most Americans don't have a memory extending past a week ago, this argument has several major flaws. I feel that it makes sense that Osama Bin Ladin, as well as all terrorists, would use encryption when discussing plots that he doesn't want others (the US government) privy too. Also, many people are making the very common mistake (at least on Slashdot) or assuming that the United States is the whole world, or at least the only important part of it. I highly doubt that Osama Bin Ladin has lax US regulations to thank for his ability to use encryption (It's not like US encryption regulations are loose anyway).
If Cryptography is outlawed, only outlaws will use cryptography. Oh, and Osama Bin Ladin.