It might interest some to know that Neal Stephenson (author of the cyberpunkish novel, "Snow Crash", which I liked very much), has a decent short story in the latest (October) issue of WIRED magazine. With this story, Stephenson says many things about privacy which I've been trying to say for years, but could never find the words. I found it very gratifying to discover that he sees things the same way. Unfortunately, in WIRED, he's mostly preaching to the choir. I sort of wish this story could get broader distribution, somehow ... The topics of encryption, profile-spoofing, false identities, and other privacy-enhancing techniques figure prominently. He also briefly mentions the cypherpunks, to wit: "You're a cypherpunk, or you know some. You're using codes so tough they're illegal." Apparently, some cypherpunks write ... STORIES, too! --- mkj