From: hal@finney.org
Date: Sun Apr 02 2000 - 21:37:47 MDT
Michael S. Lorrey, <retroman@turbont.net>, writes:
> The Chinese burn grades of coal in their power plants that are so dirty
> that it would be literally a crime to do the same here in the US. Not
> only does this smog cause health and agricultural problems due to the
> particulate content in the air, but these particulates, because they are
> not scrubbed out of the exhaust as the coal plant, contain high levels
> of beavy metals and radioactive isotopes, which both will have a lasting
> impact on the health of the people and crops living in the fallout
> zones.
Of course we saw similar pollution problems in the USSR. This is a
good example of how the most pernicious aspect of the communist states
is their control over the news media. If there were an independent
and unfettered press operating there is no way the government could get
away with this kind of harm to the populace. I am very hopeful that as
the Internet comes to China the government will find it impossible to
continue to lie to the people.
It will be a good test for the various "cypherpunk" technologies to
see whether they can truly provide information freedom in the face of
serious attempts to suppress them. If so this could be a tremendous
force for peace. The real irony will be if the NSA would recognize
the military value of this effect, and actually work to create tools to
protect privacy, given its vast expertise on the other side of the fence.
Hal
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