[Cryptography] $750k Fine for exporting crypto

[Henry Baker]

At 07:47 PM 11/6/2014, dan at geer.org wrote:
>In sum, selective enforcement of the putative rule base is a
>structural inevitability given the observed rate of growth in that
>rule base.  To return to a rule of law requires that the number of
>laws be reduced.

Thanks, Dan, for the terrific analysis.

As most everyone already knows, politicians pass laws, not
because they are useful or will improve society, but because
they make voters & donors feel good so the pols will get
re-elected.  "I was tough on crime, because I got my name
on a law to go after Wall Street criminals."  OK, so where
are the "perp walks" for said Wall Street criminals?  "Welllll,
we needed Wall Street $$$$ to keep those other b*****ds out
of office, so we didn't want to rock the boat with prosecutions."

Since everyone -- including the Atty Gen -- knows this, the
Prez & AG are free to use this vastly bloated set of laws
to prosecute pretty much anyone they please, and claim
"prosecutorial discretion" for the laws that they don't
want to prosecute for whatever reason.

Unfortunately, the Prez (no matter which party) also uses this
"discretion" to ignore his/her duty to uphold the Constitution,
particularly those parts that constrain his/her actions.

Voters should always keep in mind that the same laws that they
felt so good about when "their" guy/gal was in office, will
also be available when the other party's guy/gal gets into that
same office.  In particular, how would the electorate feel
about giving the current NSA/FBI/DHS powers to Richard Nixon &
his cronies?