Mike Duvos brings up an important issue: what to do about the mounting pressure to ban certain kinds of research. One of the powerful uses of strong crypto is the creation of journals, web sites, mailing lists, etc., that are "untraceable." These are sometimes called "data havens," though that term, as used by Bruce Sterling in "Islands in the Net" (1988), tends to suggest specific places like the Cayman Islands that corporations might use to store data. I prefer the emphasis on "cypherspace." Mike writes:
Yes, the Canadians are way ahead of us in the area of censorship. In addition to drawings and stories, anything which suggests that sexual relationships between adults and minors are not always harmful is also prohibited by law. If you do a piece of scientific research on intergenerational relationships, it can only be published in Canada if it concludes such relationships are harmful. One sex study which came to the "wrong" conclusion has already been banned by the Canadian government.
Uses for research havens: - medical experimentation deemed "illegal" by authorities (use of Nazi freezing data, for example, or research into live donors for organ transplants) - sexual research of the sort mentioned above - research into racial and gender differences in intelligence or other abilities - drug research that violates some norm - tons of similar examples Strong crypto allows for the creation and distribution of journals or article distribution methods that allow for novel features: - anonymous receipt (a la the "anonymous anonymous ftp" system) - refereeing of articles by truly untraceable pseudonyms (but still reputation-based) - scientists doing controversial or speculative research could adopt a digitally signed pseudonym (as several Cypherpunks have done) and publish their illegal, controversial, hare-brained, or otherwise speculative research under this pseudonym. If the research succeeds, or the stigma attached diminishes (think of RU-486), then they could of course reveal the mapping between their identities. (lots more to say here) What might be some first steps? 1. Investigate ways to create an "anonymous Web site," that is, a WWW site that can be reached only through a system of remailers. Actually, due to the slow response (else traffic analysis is a big danger), this would be more like a "CryptoGopher." (But gopher is being subsumed into the Mosaic/lynx model, I suspect, and will be obsolete soon.) 2. Anonymous moderation. Publication of cryptographically-sensitive information, illegal research, etc., by anonymous means and with some modertation. (The moderation could be bypassed by users who don't want it, or set for a higher threshold...I'm not arguing for moderation per se, but for reputation-based systems. Another topic.) 3. Create such a journal in an area unrelated directly to cryptography, but using the methods of cryptography. For example, imagine the allusive implications of this journal: "The Haight-Ashbury Journals of Reproductive Freedom," containing "illegal" articles by non-licensed researchers (non-doctors....note that the medical profession controls the publication by various rules saying who can practice medicine). I can think of several variants on this, all in the medical area: - "The Journal of Assisted Suicide" - "Advances in Experimentation on Humans" - "Illegal Drugs and Your Health" You get the picture. Some of these are quite controversial, and might not "help the cause." And I'm not endorsing experimentation on Jews or other humans...I just don't think it right that many countries have banned the publication of results from the WW2 experiments on Jewish concentration camp results....imagine being imprisoned for the "sin" of citing the statistics on how long it took people to die when immersed in cold water? (Yes, it may offend some Jews, especially those whose relatives were the ones dunked in the water, but so what? Free speech and free exchange of ideas is what it's all about. Using the data can't send a signal backward in time and cause Mengele and his cronies to do more such experiments.) I'm especially intrigued by the prospects for getting traditionally left-leaning groups such as the "women's movement" involved in strong crypto. Research into RU-486 results would seem to be one fertile area. Clinton has lifted some of the restrictions, but certainly not all of them (and the medical union has of course retained control). Wouldn't it be interesting to have an anonymous site in cypherspace that acts as a repository for RU-486 test results of all sorts? Official results, as they dribble out, plus more unofficial, anecdotal, and person results. The "web of trust" model could be used to increase/decrease credence given to reports in this crypto-repository. Lots more to talk about. But I'll stop now. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."