At 11:18 am -0500 on 11/14/97, Tim May wrote:
Even here on Cypherpunks we see toadies like Bob Hettinga fretting that our words are going too far, that we must learn to police ourselves or the police will be forced to do so.
Nice try, Tim. Frankly, if you, or Paul Bradley, want to stand up and call for the death of anyone, a federal judge, or the President of the United States, or the Pope, for that matter, you're welcome to do so. Have fun, you crazy kids... You just sound like loons, is all, and, at some point, you're going to piss someone off who'll have less brains but more guns than you do, and enough lawyers after the fact to make it all stick. My opinion, of course. Free speech, and all that. :-). So, no, Tim, I don't believe that the mellenium is here, that the Forces of Darkness are building in the shadows, much less going to Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle Tim's house. I think that they're just as fucked up as they always were, Tim. If we keep making progress, and, barring some major silliness you or I can't even fathom, progress in cryptography is practically an economic necessity, now, they'll continue to bluster like some charging rhino or something, but they can't hurt anyone who's paying attention and has the proper tools. So, boys and girls, do you think you can stay out of the way of a very dangerous cornered animal? Well, yes, probably, by very dint of the fact that *you've* cornered it. However, if you think it's necessary to either prove your bravery by tempting it to give you an ad hoc rectal exam, or worse, by ignoring it (no one here's guilt of that, I bet) then you're welcome to try to survive your case of testosterone poisoning, but don't say I didn't warn you... We have only the example of Jim Bell to remind us that when you bang on the gorilla's cage, you should expect to get shit thrown in your face. Yes, I saw what looks like Tim's repost of my "coalmine" message go by, and I don't think my opinion of Bell's situation has changed since then, but I've decided to shovel Tim's dreck FIFO, for the time being, to keep better tabs on it. Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/ Ask me about FC98 in Anguilla!: <http://www.fc98.ai/>