Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: "John R. Levine" <johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Supreme Court Rules Cordless Calls Not Private
Message-ID: <2776@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 10 Jan 90 22:16:21 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 19, message 9 of 10


Alan Dershowitz, normally a fairly reasonable guy, was all upset about
the Court's decision and how it would inconvenience all of the users
of cordless phones.  I don't have to explain to any readers here that
the technology used in cordless phones makes any expectation of
privacy unreasonable and to attempt to legislate otherwise is spitting
into the wind.

If we step back a little here, what has really happened is that a
technology has been implemented willy-nilly without a thorough
understanding of what it really is or what its implications are, and
when people find out later what has happened they get all upset.  Is
there anyone around trying to educate the population in general and
the legal profession in particular about social implications of
technical change?  If so, they're not doing a very good job.  I
suppose if I really care so much I should do something about it
myself.

Regards,

John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl

PS:  I wouldn't dream of mentioning Caller ID again.  Oops, I just did.
Sorry.

John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 864 9650
johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {ima|lotus|spdcc}!esegue!johnl
"Now, we are all jelly doughnuts."

[Moderator's Mote: Caller-ID?  Gaak!  You devil, you!   :)   PT]