Freedom to Tinker has the story today about bills introduced in a number of states that seek to prohibit the use of encryption by home internet users.

The underlying message here is simple:  You must expose yourself to surveillance.  You may not take any steps to defend yourself against state or corporate incursion into your privacy.

This reminds me of the order in Seattle back in 1999 that made gas masks illegal.  The thought process seems the same:  Your communication data and your muccous membranes must be exposed to the state so that they can be utilized to control you.

This is interesting.  A press release from an organization called “Velvet Revolution” has been posted to Yahoo! News.  I didn’t realize that Yahoo! posted press releases, and it’s not marked as such except that it has a header with “To:” and “Contact:” details.

The contact is someone called Ilene Proctor, and her phone number is 310-858-6643.

The press release claims, inter alia, that the group asked for protection for Michael Connell, who is purported to have had inside knowledge of the rigging of the 2004 election and who died in a mysterious plane crash Friday.

The press release is here.