FC: John Gilmore on military hypocrisy about .mil info online

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous Politech message:

"Military frets about sensitive .mil info on Internet"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03875.html

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To: politech () politechbot com
Subject: Re: FC: Military frets about sensitive .mil info on Internet 
In-reply-to: <5.1.1.6.0.20020812022142.01d03000 () mail well com> 
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 12:55:31 -0700
From: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>

> A computer and Internet connection found in millions of
> homes can reveal a lot about a U.S. military base: how high
> a fence is, where the operations center and fuel supply are
> located and how many troops live there.

Just think of it -- the citizens can find out where their government
is, how many people it employs, where its hazardous facilities are,
how much money it spends, and what it is doing!  We must stop these
leaks of critical information immediately!

The same information is widely available about individual citizens,
about commercial businesses, about rural properties, about whole
countries -- yet the government doesn't seem to be complaining.  On
the contrary, in most cases it is the driving force behind publishing
that info.  (They unconstitutionally demand to look up my credit, home
address, criminal records, driving history, and everything else they
can find, whenever I go through an airport -- but they complain about
a few pictures of their chain-link fences?)

Military bases are presumably better prepared than the rest of us, to
repel any kind of attack -- terrorist or otherwise.  Yet they only
complain when their bases are documented, not when the rest of our
lives are.  Methinks they complain too much.

        John Gilmore




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