Re: BEST LAW MONAY CAN BUY -- Senate votes Telecom immunity

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: DV Henkel-Wallace <gumby () henkel-wallace org>
Date: February 12, 2008 4:45:48 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Subject: Re: [IP] BEST LAW MONAY CAN BUY --  Senate votes Telecom  
immunity

I was struck by two things, one tangental to the IP list and the other  
deeply connected.

Both were triggered by the following quote:  "...But supporters of the  
plan said the phone carriers acted out of patriotism..."

It seems clear that patriotism or fear drove the decision.  Although  
the companies are accused of venality, I consider it unlikely because  
the were almost certainly not making a profit on the deal, but were  
just in fear of future regulatory or fiscal pressure.  However the  
same two arguments can be used to explain vigilanteism participation  
in a lynch mob, which doesn't make that better either.

What I find far more interesting is that this clearly shows that the  
bellheads are gone for good.  Even at the hight of the cold war these  
kinds of shenanigans were hard to pull off.  But it's been at least a  
decade since I've heard terms like "reliability", "audio fidelity", or  
"availability" in connection with voice service.  And now "privacy" is  
gone too.

-d



On Feb 12, 2008, at 13:01 , David Farber wrote:

> ________________________________________
> From: Lauren Weinstein [lauren () vortex com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 2:56 PM
> To: David Farber
> Subject: Senate votes Telecom immunity
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/washington/12cnd-fisa.html
>
>
>
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