At 1:34 pm -0400 on 6/22/97, geeman@best.com wrote:
What's necessary here is a knowledgeable application of the same techniques, a coalition organization comprised of large business interests with an awareness of how Bad this all is, competing on the same turf.
Noble anarchist or Constitutional arguments, whining about our Rights and such, are insignificant and irrelevant to the players.
Who will belly up to the bar and provide leadership on terms that will truly be effective?
You rang? (He said, feeling particularly ambitious on a rainy June afternoon) You don't need an organization, a simple angry swarm of the right players is just fine, preferrably large commercial ones. You just need to tell them that S909 will kill the commercial internet, and all the billions that have been invested in it. The big stick to smack the hive with, the argument to present to those people who have the most to lose, is the following, if I may quote myself from several places this week :-):
Said syllogistically,
Digital Commerce *is* Financial Cryptography, Financial Cryptography *is* Strong Cryptography, therefore, Digital Commerce *is* Strong Cryptography. and, therefore, No Strong Cryptography, no Digital Commerce.
Instructions for the use of this syllogism:
Invite 'em to a presentation.
Use one proposition per slide, with nothing on the slide but the proposition, centered vertically and horizontally. Don't make handouts.
Put up the first slide, and defend the proposition. Repeat until last slide.
Ask for questions.
I will deliver the above talk to anyone who pays my travel expenses and can get butts in the seats to hear it. The "right" butts or no, you never know who knows somebody else. You buy, I fly. If anyone *else* wants to make the above presentation, and save the air and hotel bill, feel free. Practically *anyone* on this list knows how to more than adequately defend each of those propositions against all comers, foreign and domestic. :-). Now, then. When do we get started? Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/