At 01:26 PM 8/24/04 -0400, Tyler Durden wrote:
PS: I thought Tyler had nominated himself as leader? :-) No, almost the opposite. I propose that any 'Cypherpunk' can declare himself to be leader and make 'official statements' at any time.
can (and most probably will) choose to ignore the official statement, or even declare himself to be leader and 'officially' rescind that statement and/or issue a completely contradictory statement. This will be
Oh, then you'd be reformed cypherpunk. The orthodoxy is that the group has no head (an arch). I think of it as a grad student lounge with open doors, and a few conversations going on at once. Anyone can pop in (wearing a mask or not) and make a fool of himself, or enlighten others, or ask questions (as long as they're not homework), or even forward nominally relevent articles, or flame others for doing so. Of course, others particularly
useful when getting (for instance) public interest to move elsewhere.
Or it will seem a petty schism like the Sierras or Athiests or Amerikan Xians etc.. The only coherence is an interest in crypto and society. This reasonably extends to privacy, opsec, surveillance and reverse-surveillance, OS bugs, hardware, censorship, finance, etc. Read the fatwa --er, the cyphernomicon :-) Read the Bill of Rights, (now a quaint obsolete historical document) and think about technology.
For instance, it might be usefulto have an official statement ready if/when the Cryptome press starts poking around Cypherpunks:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Cypherpunks is a collection of diverse individuals dedicated to
The useful statement is May's Cyphernomicon (ie an outline) and the bulk of the discussions of the last 12 years (better get a few reams of paper for the printout, Mr. Fed). PKZ's rant is also good introductory material IMHO. preserving
the freedoms that all Americans value. As part of this effort, Cypherpunks periodically analyzes the systems used by terrorists and other enemies of
^ and governments
freedom in an attempt to strengthen such systems and prevent their abuse.
Even with my addenda your statement is too restrictive. E.g., some here, I have gathered, worry about corporations (but not LLCs) too. ......and now, some quotes for Tom Ridge to ponder..... Forget turbans, real terrorists wear neckties. "Stop shedding our blood to save your own and the solution to this simple but complex equation is in your hands. You know matters will escalate the more you delay and then do not blame us but blame yourselves. Rational people do not risk their security, money and sons to appease the White House liar." "Can you hear me now?" -UBL "Naturally the common people don't want war...But, after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship, or parliament or a communist dictatorship. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." --Hermann Goering, (1893-1946) Nazi Reichsmarschall, at the Nuremberg Trials, 4/18/46. From _Nuremberg Diary_ by Gustave Gilbert. The risks posed by ignorant politicians may yet be far more dangerous that the odd virus and software mistake..... Prof. Dr. Debora Weber-Wulff Additional case studies are needed, however, to determine which traits of chemical and biological terrorists might help identify them because charisma, paranoia, and grandiosity are alo found to varying degreees among, for example, leaders of political parties, large corporations, and academic depts. --John T Finn, _Science_ v 289 1 sept 2000 We have always been at war with Oceania bin Laden -Orwell In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department. -James Madison "The tragedy of Galois is that he could have contributed so much more to mathematics if he'd only spent more time on his marksmanship." "Your children are not safe anywhere at any time." -IAMGodsniper commenting perhaps on the USG's propensity for using them as cannon fodder. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" "When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself public property." Bluffs will be published if comical but otherwise ignored. -JY SAFETY RULES FOR US STRATEGIC BOMBERS 5.1. Don't use nuclear weapons to troubleshoot faults. http://cryptome.org/afi91-111.htm