At 10:46 PM -0700 7/22/97, Anonymous wrote:
Perhaps the hardest part of maintaining secure communications and personal privacy is remembering that, no matter how tight you run your own ship, you are, to a certain extent, "married" to the people with whom you communicate. And, to use an AIDS analogy, you are also "married" to everyone they have slept with.
I really can't agree with this viewpoint. Insofar as _crypto_ goes, the beauty of public key systems is that one shares _nothing_ with others. They don't have your secret keys, and you don't have theirs. It is true that their communications with you, or yours with them, may be used against you. Maybe by them, maybe if their computers are stolen or seized. But this is unavoidable with any communication system. Contact tracking is often possible. And crypto even allows for fully pseudonymous communication. Thus, if the IRS and FBI seized Bell's computer and found communications through remailers with "Pr0duct Cypher," his or her True Name, meatspace personna would be safe.
The bottom line is that one should "err" on the side of safety. Being _too_ paranoid is less costly than not being paranoid enough. Tim May's rants are not done in ignorance. He understands the legal differences between saying "The criminals in D.C. _should_ be nuked.", and saying, "I _am_going_to_ nuke the criminals in D.C., someday." (Friday, at 4 o'clock.) I am certain that Tim is well aware that, even if he is right about his statements being Constitutionally protected free speech, there is always the chance that he could suffer grief or imprisonment for them( quite simply because "the criminals" are getting more profecient at subverting and destroying the rights protected by the Constitution). I am just as certain that Tim has made a conscious decision as to what level of risk he is willing to take to speak his mind and perhaps make a difference in the events of his time, without merely being egoistical, stupid, and suicidal.
If I wanted to be "safe" and "secure," I'd just stay silent like a good little sheeple. I'd get off this list, I'd cluck appropriately at those darned cypher-terrorists, and I'd volunteer some time at the local Demopublican Party machine. All of us on this list, except the plants and shills, are risking a certain amount. (Several corporate types have sent me e-mail saying that now that they are in positions of respectability within their corporations, they can no longer say what's on their mind, for fear of repercussions of various sorts, however mild.) Speaking out is what separates us from sheeple. --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."