Robert Cain writes:
exist and that liklihood is very small. Persuasion is not working and the press has been whipped into a near hysterical state over this by we and our friends (yes, we on the internet are considered to be the force that has derailed their hopes and that was unforseen.)
How did it happen that "we on the internet" was an unforseen force? The first answer is obvious: they didn't realize that cohesive action would arise out of the internet. The second is not so obvous, but illuminates part of the Clipper strategy: The Clipper promoters assumed the the issue to be beyond most citizen's technical horizo. However, the unexpected thing which happened was that the initial few who did understand rapidly interneted the information to others.i Without the internet, the information, and opposition, would have spread more slowly. Cain observes that Denning and friends are afraid of the *unknown* that will come out of the new communications technologies. The reaction to Clipper, and how developed, should convince them they are right. -a2