Author: Matt

“It is not a wish list; it is modest set of essential proposals.”

Attorney General John Ashcroft, on his depressingly nonsatirical requests to abridge civil liberties, The Register, 25 September 2001

“The toothpaste is out of the tube, and it is covering the whole planet.”

Pretty Good Privacy inventor Phil Zimmermann, on the unavoidable use of encryption software for good and evil, Wall Street Journal, 25 September 2001 (paid subscription required)

“Businesspeople can bypass travel with videoconferencing, but videoconferencing won’t take the place of hugging Mom and Dad.”

Priceline spokesman Brian Ek, on persuading consumers that they won’t get hijacked on the way to see their folks, News.com, 25 September 2001

“We’re not asking for the laws to expand, just grow as technology has grown.”

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, on the need to lessen — not diminish — privacy in the pursuit of terrorists, CNN.com, 24 September 2001

“The whole smug, Gen-X irony, it just feels like it’s permanently obsolete.”

Todd Hanson, head writer for The Onion, on feeling displaced in a postironic world, Chicago Tribune, 21 September 2001