Judge Posner: it should be illegal to make phones the government can't search

[bwv812]

@shaddack

Wasn’t it more a lobbied-for repeal of the safeguard laws?

The Glass-Steagall Act may have been repealed in 1999, but there are still various fraud laws on the books that could be used but haven’t been. Lots of laws are difficult to successfully prosecute, but that doesn’t mean they are useless or should not exist. Whether emotionally-charged or not, rape is an example of a law that is difficult to prosecute.

@shaddack

Entirely different can of worms. I prefer to not use emotionally loaded examples unless strictly necessary, they cloud up thinking.

I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t raise the spectre of Nazis in your last response, then, and merely talked about uncharged examples like Stalin and the Khmer Rouge.

@shaddack

Cambodia.

I was thinking more of the French Revolution or possibly the Russian Revolution, but it doesn’t really matter, because the possibility of these sorts of uprisings really don’t inspire realistic optimism in anti-capitalists.

[quote=“shaddack, post:63, topic:47868”]
Ummm… like?
[/quote]Umm, like the huge financial costs of 9-11?

I don’t understand why you are relying heavily on war-time examples to illustrate the costs of monitoring. People are also shot and killed in great numbers in wartime, but we don’t think this is a good example of the perils of arming police or soldiers.

[shaddack]

@bwv812

Whether emotionally-charged or not, rape is an example of a law that is difficult to prosecute.

Yes, but it falls into the class of problematics that when you don’t tiptoe around carefully enough you get sent to a sensitivity reeducation camp. You can be way less careful, at least here, with less charged issues.

@bwv812

I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t raise the spectre of Nazis in your last response, then, and merely talked about uncharged examples like Stalin and the Khmer Rouge.

Nazis are a good example but worn rather thin with decades of common use. Sometimes you want a bit of change in the flavour.

@bwv812

I was thinking more of the French Revolution or possibly the Russian Revolution,…

Good examples. Not much of comm tech back then, though, especially of electronic nature. Letter opening may apply, though. And crypto use was present (see black chambers) but limited in scope.

@bwv812

…but it doesn’t really matter, because the possibility of these sorts of uprisings really don’t inspire realistic optimism in anti-capitalists.

Nothing inspires much of realistic optimism. Capitalism sucks, alternatives suck, even the best you can get is not much of a win. Oh well…

@bwv812

Umm, like the huge financial costs of 9-11?

THIS. I keep forgetting this one. Still just estimates, though.

Also, the damages caused to the US tech sector by the loss of trust due to that Snowden thing. That is what will happen to you when you insist on having (and making) holes in the tech.

@bwv812

I don’t understand why you are relying heavily on war-time examples to illustrate the costs of monitoring. People are also shot and killed in great numbers in wartime, but we don’t think this is a good example of the perils of arming police or soldiers.

They just keep popping up on top when I ask my brain for some.
[shrug]
BTW, thanks for providing more, handy to get reminded.