At 05:26 AM 4/8/04 -0400, An Metet wrote:
The privacy news has been full of fuss and bluster lately about Google's proposed Gmail service.
Cypherpunks have two somewhat contradictory positions on the issue. First, as lovers of privacy, they will share the concerns in the letter
and they would be reluctant to use Gmail as configured, at least with any pseudonym which hoped to retain privacy.
I disagree. A punk would assume any server not under their control archives everything, as do all routers between said punk and the server. But second, as lovers of
freedom, they would encourage Google and every other company to experiment with new services and new technologies, allowing individuals to freely decide whether to use them or not.
We should use the service but only send encrypted mail :-)
One of the oldest Cypherpunk philosophical thought experiments was BlackNet, a hypothetical offshore data haven whose main job, paradoxically, was to defeat privacy. BlackNet would serve as a market
and a storage facility for information that might be of value, one example being credit rating information. BlackNet demonstrated that even when third parties sought to prevent the flow of information, for example by mandating that credit report data be deleted after so many years, Cypherpunk technologies could keep the information available and alive.
The net never forgets. BlackNet would support that behavior even in the face of Men with Guns.
Oddly, few Cypherpunks appeared to notice the inconsistency with a supposedly privacy-oriented group promoting a technology which would harm privacy. The actual resolution is that Cypherpunks see privacy as
a means to an end. That end is freedom. Privacy will lead to freedom by allowing people to communicate and contract without interference and
meddling by interlopers. BlackNet is an example of the kind of system which would appear if people were truly free. That it harms privacy is
merely an incidental side effect.
The LA riots were excellent reminders to the layfolk that guns are important. BlackNet's persistant-despite-your-guns behavior is an excellent reminder to curb your info-promiscuity.
From the Cypherpunk perspective, the criticism of Gmail misses the mark; rather, all web mail systems should be understood as fundamentally inconsistent with privacy. If you want privacy, you have to do it yourself. Writing an angry letter is at best going to make the privacy
violations more covert. It accomplishes nothing in the end.
Yep. It could still be useful for things like distributed data storage, dead-man switches, etc. where content is encrypted. Much like any other free service, only nominally with more storage. ------- I think people have not quite gotten their hands around the speed at which information can be disseminated online. -Monica Lewinsky, LATimes 9 may 01 http://www.latimes.com/business/columns/celebsetup/lat_monica010510.htm