Hal Finney wrote:
"'Activity in cyberspace ultimately forecasts the end of national control,' said David Post, visiting associate professor of law at Georgetown University."
The article goes on to mention digital cash, crypto policy debates, problems with the CDA, Germany's attempt to block access to Radikal magazine and anti holocast info on the net, and other topics which we have discussed at length. It is good to see these ideas beginning to enter the mainstream.
This is what this list and this movement is capable of. A lot of these ideas would not have received their prominence if it were not for the cypherpunks. And of course there are powerful forces arranged in opposition.
Of course, those who attempt to point toward those powerful forces will be be subjected to ridicule as paranoid conspiracy theorists. And when they point out the facts concerning the underlying alliances and motivations behind various actors on the list, then they will be met with rebuttals that so-and-so had a beer with them, once, and they seemed like a nice person. Big news flash! Nazi's attend the opera and kiss babies. Money buys people (even those who deny it to themselves). I wish I had a dime for every post I've seen on this list that denigrates those that suggest that the list is both followed by, and subjected to interference by, clandestine agencies and agents. "What? Our 'How to build a Nuclear bomb' list is being subjected to surveillance? How silly!" Buy a clue, dudes and dudettes. Cryptography is the new Nuclear technology of the Information Age. Big Brother is paying attention.
How easy they find it to distract us, to fill the list with irrelevant discussions! When I see so many posts which are purely flame bait, or which seem to go out of their way to explore trivia as though it were of interest, I believe that in at least some cases they are intentionally designed to thwart our efforts.
Most people who recognize this still fail to see the 'thwarting' that takes place by those whose sole purpose is to spread disinformation while seeming to agree with the consensus opinion on the list. The subtle slants which are a constant undercurrent in their posts are seldom seen as an attempt to undermine the issues they appear to be supporting.
I'm not calling for censorship, but I'd like people to be aware of what is going on. Before responding to an off-topic or flaming post, consider the motivations of the creators of the thread. Is it possible that this is purely an attempt to fill the list with noise, to drown out discussion on more important and relevant topics?
In some cases, undoubtedly, but anyone who thinks that the flames and off-topic posts are the enemy on this list are _not_ aware of what is going on. Noise will deflect idiots and lightweights from following the crucial issues surrounding cryptography, but this in no great loss. The true loss to the list is when the supposedly intelligent members lose the capacity to distinguish critical points raised on the list because they have allowed themselves to fall into the same personality based mode of censorship as was forcefully imposed on the list. Look at the number of people on the list who _boast_ about their killfiles. They are idiots. Even those who profess to use their filters as an information tool seem to base their filtering on personality, to a large degree. The result? They are filtering _into_ view those the disinformation artists who will lick their dick in order to lead them away from areas they don't want to receive too much attention. The result of the sheep mentality of cliques who killfile each other is that if a list member wants to raise an issue outside of his or her own _clan_ on the list, then they must make NOISE sufficient to draw in the members of other clans, whose other members will read their replies. Your post might waken a few of the converted to remind them that it takes an effort to stay on track, but if you had found a way to work the word "cocksucker" into the list, you would have reached a wider audience, and perhaps done some good where it will be more effective. (Or, better yet, badmouth the list Icons.) The fact of the matter is, spotting spooks and schills on this list is a minor matter of the simplest of traffic analysis, given the fact that so many list members are content to focus their attention only on the _visible_ enemies that those who use deceit and deception have to make little effort to cover their tracks.
Simply being aware of the attack will, I suggest, go a long way towards reducing its impact.
I think that all list members would be well-advised to read your post and give it serious thought. I think, however, that they should also make an attempt to broaden the concepts you deal with, in their own mind, in order to adjust their view as to the true nature of the traffic on this list really is. TruthMonger