Doug Cutrell writes
The argument seems to be that in a free society, natural cooperative processes will provide a form of "autoregulation" to discourage the widespread development of oppression of specific classes of individuals.
Actually the argument is that who I choose to associate with is no damned business of the state. If you want a utiltarian argument, no problem: Obviously laws regulating who can associate with who, can be used, will be used, and are being used to oppress those minority groups that are out of favor with the state. For example jews and Asians are not "protected groups" and the anti discrimination laws are enforced in a selective fashion to harass businessmen of Korean origin in California. Obviously if some individuals choose not to associate with some group for irrational reasons it will harm those who so choose more than it harms the group - but only the state can enforce discrimination with guns, and it does, thus only state sponsored discrimination is significant in practice. Plenty of Koreans have been put out of business by the state. How many homosexuals have been put out of business by private discrimination? But I piss on utilitarian arguments. From the fact that anti discrimination laws violate peoples rights, we could have immediately inferred that the unjust use of force would follow, and that this would lead to undesired and unintended outcomes, without bothering with the specific details.
Moreover, it seems to me that cryptoanarchy may in fact facilitate a new type of "mob rule". For example, imagine the development of a multitude of secret "crypto-posse" organizations. Individuals could join any number of these secret societies, which might require some sort of dues payment for participancy. They might be fleeting in duration, forming spontaneously to achieve some specific aim (thus my term "posse").
That is the plan. Consider the excellent and great campaign of intimidation and harassment against Cantor and Segal. We really trashed those guys. Hurray for cybervigilantes and Silicon cowboys.
Virtually everything about these organizations could be secret -- their size, power, and even their very existence.
Right on. It is called "freedom of association". You will just have to get used to it.
If there is a reason why these concerns are unfounded, I would very much appreciate hearing refutations. I certainly don't want any of these possibilities to materialize, but I don't see any way around them in a completely "cryptoanarchic" society.
Most of us hope, desire, and intend, that your worst fears will be realized. As for contract killings - what else is new. Just as today you will have to start by asking "who has motive and money to put out a contract on X". Of course you could prevent contract killings by requiring everyone to carry government "escrowed" tape recordings to record all their conversations and requiring them to keep a diary at all times alibing their all their activities. This would also make it much easier to stamp out child pornography, plutonium smuggling, and social discrimination against the politically correct. --------------------------------------------------------------------- We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because of the kind of animals that we James A. Donald are. True law derives from this right, not from the arbitrary power of the omnipotent state. jamesd@netcom.com