Hello, dear cypherpunks! I subscribed to this mailing list after having read the "Cryptonomicon" novel by Neal Stephenson (which some of you may be familiar with). I've read that this mailing list audience is supposedly similar to the "Secret Admirers" list depicted in the book. While subscribing I've been warned that this is a high volume list. So, I've been on the list for 3 days now. All I got is 3 spams (one in a language I don't understand but suspect to be either Spanish or Portuguese) and a single request for help with a single response. Now, my question is, is this a typical phenomenon or are all cypherpunks happen to be on holidays these days? (Correction, it's 4 spams now. Seems to be high volume indeeed). And, while at it, a question on topic: does anyone here has any idea about how widespread the secure e-mail is? By secure e-mail I mean: 1. SSL over IMAP/POP/SMTP 2. S/MIME vs. PGP 3. All kinds of web based secure e-mail systems, such as hushmail. How much is this all "power user" stuff, do the "regular people" use these communication means? -- Dmitry Rubinstein