-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 09:29 AM 7/10/97 -0700, Tim May wrote:
1. The "tobacco agreement." Supposedly a deal involving the transfer of $360 billion from some number of tobacco companies in exchange for dropping of liability suits, immunity from future claims, voluntary restrictions (!) on advertising, etc. (And the "etc." is especially complicated in this huge case.)
Note that the tobacco agreement was announced the same day as the NYT Net Threat story about how a drug culture is thriving unopposed on the Net. The coincidence of these two events suggests what will happen to the Tobacco Settlement whether or not it is formally approved. Just as third party political advertising defeated campaign regulations, I expect third party "advertizing" for controversial substances to defeat "voluntary" ad bans. There are already plenty of cigarette sites on the Net and even though "Big Tobacco" may try and use copyright law to restrict pro cigarette third party "advertizing", those attempts will not succeed very well. Boutique tobacco brands drop shipped from Mexico can play a part as well. "Death's Head" cigarettes are supposed to be selling pretty well in the UK. Cigarettes and cigars are all throughout pop culture these days (Julia Roberts looked good chain smoking in "My Best Friend's Wedding") and the authorities don't have much of an argument that will be successful against "cool" cigarettes. The more they warn about cigarettes killing you, the cooler they'll seem. Poor Gen X, Y, and Zers lack much of substance to revolt against these days so the Health Nazis are supplying a valuable authority figure to serve as the object of such a revolt. Heroic Mohawk (and other) cigarette smugglers smashed the high Canadian tobacco taxes a few years ago. In a market in which everything is a boutique good and anyone with a little cash can put together a whole purchasing, production, and distribution chain overnight without actually hiring anyone, ordinary entrepreneurs will be able to supply the demand for cigarettes even while the Health Nazis think they've accomplished something by gelding "Big Tobacco." They haven't noticed that size doesn't matter much in efficient markets. DCF -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBM8ZCcoVO4r4sgSPhAQEd/wQA1mVFiguhpnRHnZ/uoBaMcmZKkvbfPgGH 7ryg4UGdxi6ExAxitcrO5nuUVWF0sbOmI0Z1KqlmavHuQMZ5LT+P+/eRCEgZ3m3J EwxB7kwXGlWKAqZjDyUZifxFrSPeBLs20mtFcragNIVHIV5TMR39zzxqRqBeVQDX okEkq4AWjoU= =qlBI -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----