At 8:40 PM 9/3/96, Duncan Frissell wrote:
Everyone please take a deep breath. Slow down. Reread Esther's comments. Count to 10. Notice that nowhere does she call for state action to outlaw anonymity. She explicitly predicted a place for anonymity in her CFP'95 talk (is it on the Net anywhere?). We may disagree with her predictions of the future scope of anonymity or with her concerns about the risks of the practice but she has never called for State action. She is discussing the problems she perceives with it. That's all.
I certainly read her words, and don't need to be told to reread them just because I take them to mean she supports anonymity less than many of us would like. As I said in my message to Chuck Thompson, I held off in criticizing her "L.A. Times" words until I could get a better clarification of what she said, precisely, what was taken out of context, and what she really meant to say. When she spoke up and the result was just as ambivalent about anonymity rights, this is when I wrote my first criticism of her views. And I saw her CFP '95 talk. I've also read various of her other comments on the Net, freedom, responsibility, and anonymity. Some of her comments: * "Esther Dyson, President EDventure Holdings, Inc. said her work with the Electronic Frontier Foundation was based on the assumptions that the Internet will have a beneficial effect on society. "The longer I have been at this, the more questions I have about these assumptions," she said." (Perhaps Esther is finding the goals of the EFF--or at least the views of the other board members--are not her goals.) * "The second way to create friction is to create accountability, identity and personality. "I would like to see a world where anonymity is not illegal, but is discouraged," Dyson said. "It has its place in life, but people should have persistent identities."" (Couple with other comments about possibly requiring traceability (albeit with some legal protections), it sure does sound like her form of "discouraged" would imply a role for government.) * "This raises the issue of privacy. "I am looking at a notion of privacy for the consumer, but less privacy for companies and public office holders and others in positions of responsibility," she said." (Is this the direction the EFF is being taken in? Granted, these are her comments, but surely the views of the Chairman of the EFF affect the personality and direction of the organization.) These quotes from: http://seicenter.wharton.upenn.edu/SEIcenter/panel3.html. By the way, the Scientologists have also noted her views: "Esther Dyson, member of the board of directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and member of the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council, spoke on the anonymity issue at the fifth Computers, Freedom & Privacy (CFP) conference in San Francisco. "I have a concern about the spread of bad behavior on the Net," said Dyson. "Anonymity figures into this, and I feel that it has proven to not be a positive factor. It breaks down the community which we are seeking to build, and could turn the 'big cities' of the information infrastructure into a big cesspool." "Remailers who facilitate anonymous postings are part of the problem. They can act as conduits for those who seek anonymity as a way to act illegally without getting caught; yet remailers are able to shield themselves from responsibility or liability. "Computer experts stress that anonymous users should at least be trackable by the remailers -- and that ones who act unlawfully can easily put the remailers at risk. Dyson noted that in self-regulatory schemes for almost any part of the Internet, "visibility, not anonymity, would have a strong place."" (end quote, from "Freedom," at http://www.theta.com/goodman/hijack.htm)
Remember she is from the soft left. She is not a macho-flash radical libertarian like many of us. Save the 155 MM howitzers for the armed opposition not for our allies.
I don't know what "macho-flash" means, but I reject the label. And please spare us the "save the howitzers" comment. We talk about what concerns us. As it happens, our political opponents don't read our words, whereas a bunch of EFF board members apparently do, and so our criticisms here may cause EFF to actually confront the issue of anonymity and decide where they actually stand. --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."