At 12:19 PM -0700 8/18/97, Zooko Journeyman wrote:
P.P.S. No really-- I'm _not_ a cypherpunk, because cypherpunks appear to be overwhelmed with blind, self-destructive bloodlust since 1996 or so. I'm just here to try talking some sense into the salvageable ones.
Yes, "B.", so you keep saying. Fact is, many who remain on the list are reacting to government actions which are far more "intense" than what we had seen in the 1992-4 period. Things like the doublespeak of "mandatory voluntary" programs, the probable illegalization of tools to protect communications, and the "New World Order" machinations. (These being the behind the scenes pressures being applied to European and Asian governments, vis-a-vis Wasenaar, OECD, the secret meetings, the Orwellian language the governments are adopting to describe "trusted third parties (who actually provide keys to the authorities without telling the customer)," etc.) Not to mention the "felonization" of increasing numbers of things. Physical things that were bought fully legally are now "contraband." Except to cops, who are buying them in ever-increasing amounts. The sheeple, though, cannot be trusted to own the things the cops own freely. And I'm talking about more than just "compliance tools" (aka toilet plungers). As to us being more violent, I think this is utter bullshit, "B." Read the archived traffic of the list in the period surrounding the burning of the illegal religion in Waco, Texas. Or the traffic after a wife and son were killed by the cop criminal Lon Horiuchi (whom some militia members have placed a bounty on...the Feds have apparently placed this killer into the Witness Security Program, run, ironically, by the same U.S. Marshal's Service now in charge of Jim Bell's detention!) I think you, "B.," have just gotten a lot more nervous that what many of us are advocating is in fact warfare against the State. I get e-mail from folks who were once active on the Cypherpunks list saying, in various ways, that they can no longer be as visible about their participation in the list, for multiple reasons. First, the rise of search engines, archives, and employers routinely running DejaNews and other search engine checks on potential employees and consultants to see what sorts of folks they are. (Whether being active on the Cypherpunks list will nix a job is pretty unlikely, but it's still a worry to some.) Second, the apparent state of war between Cypherpunks and governments. After recent actions by freedom fighters to bomb stooge facilities, governments are treating "militias" as quasi-criminal organizations. (There are many nuances to this point. In the U.S., I don't think such organizations have been outlawed, as the Constitution remains a protection of sorts. But many have been investigated, and, as John Young noted recently, the IRS treats membership in certain organizations as a threat. And there is Clinton's Anti-Terrorism Act, which explicitly makes certain kinds of financial and other activities illegal, even by Americans, which involve support of "terrorist" organizations. It is not inconceivable that, following outlawing of strong crypto in various countries, that the Cypherpunks group gets classified as an organization or group which supports terrorist goals, which is almost certainly true.) Third, some of those who make the most extreme calls for the killing of Feds, the bombing of government operations in various nations, etc., are using remailers. Isn't this exactly what remailers are likely to be used for? Fourth, the arrest and prosecution of Jim Bell, with tax evasion and a minor stink bomb case turned into a "federal case" because of his controversial views. This has obviously angered and radicalized many. Some of us have stocked up on more asault weapons and shotguns, placed alarms around our property, and we are expecting a "raid." As I have said, if black-clad ninja raiders try to hit me, I'll assume they're "home invaders" and will open fire. (A Sheriff's Deputy once told me that even saying I would defend my home against unwelcome intruders constituted a "threat" and that he might order a detachment to visit my compound. So far, two years later, he hasn't made good on _his_ threat. And now I'm more ready for him than ever.) Fifth, the censorship fiasco on the list angered many of us. After it ended, many of us were no longer quite as willing to be "helpful." I, for example, no longer write _any_ introductory essays, nor do I waste my time encouraging people not to be too flamism. I used to occasionally do this, filling a kind of "elder statesmen" or "eminence grise" role, as some others expressed it. No more. If my posts were being censored, which they were, then the removal of censorship caused me--and apparently others--to "call a spade a spade." So when "DeathMonger" calls for the killing of Feds, who am I to suggest this discussion be squelched? Forcible censorship, once tried, often makes it effectively impossible for _any_ kind of guidance or advice along these lines. (This is an utterly predictable outcome of attempts to censor.) Finally, and to recap some of these points, when the Cypherpunks list and group first started, many did not take the "collapse of government" promises too seriously. Now, with even Louis Freeh and Janet Reno saying that strong crypto represents a major and urgent threat to governments (they call it "law enforcement" and "tax collection," and also talk about threats of unregulated gambling, unregulated access to medical data, uncontrolled communication between cult members, and so on), it seems that the dangers of crypto anarchy are being more widely trumpeted. This has the effect of making what we actually say here seem more "plausibly scary." I don't know if this is why some are avoiding the list now, or for other reasons (the list has never full recovered from the censorship fiasco So, "B.," stop apologizing for reading the list. You're already a marked man in their eyes...and search engines can already identify the True Name who is posting the last year or two as "Zooko Journeyman." In a couple of years, all search engines will have "known aliases" macros to automatically ferret out the web of pseudonyms linkable to a poster. You can run, but you can't hide. And "democracy" is spinning out of control, being used by authoritarians to convert the world into a security state. Restrictions on travel, new drug laws, laws against images and words on the Net, and thousands of new laws every years. A frontal assault, using strong crypto to aid in the attacks by freedom fighters and to destablize authority, makes more sense. When a government official decrees that citizen-units may no longer do certain things which were once quite legal and quite common (such as owning a gun for defense), that official must expect certain repercussions. We're in a state of war with the statists and tyrants. It's what Jefferson and the other Founders expected to happen, and now the watering with the blood of patriots and tyrants is happening. It's what the Founders expected. Get used to it. If crypto anonymity tools were available to the Founders, they'd have used them against the British. Likewise, strong crypto is already being used by the freedom fighters in Palestine against the Zionist Occupation Government. That PGP 5.0 is being used by Hamas should send chills through the ZOG in Jerusalem, and is probably why Cypherpunks is about to be classed as a "terrorist group." (What happened to the Jews in WW II was terrible, of course, but that was no excused for forcibly evicting vast numbers of "sand niggers" so as to make room for Jewish settlers. Their sons and grandsons will now end up paying the price, as freedom fighters drive them into the sea. Broken eggs and all.) --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."