At 10:01 AM 1/26/96, Eric Murray wrote:
With the coming Internet restrictions and growing use of the net by LEAs, it's become obvious to me that I shouldn't post messages with my real name. But I have some problems/questions about using a nym:
[...] Very good points. Just saying "use anonymity" is often a gross oversimplification for several reasons. One of the problems I've been thinking about recently is that I may want only a special group of people, and no one else, to know that I'm responsible for a post. A nym won't work in this case. As has been pointed out here before, a lot of people are going to be getting in trouble for things they posted to obscure newsgroups or mailing lists four years ago. How do I make sure that I get credit for something I've posted, but avoid the Alta Vista police? There are a few feeble solutions, like: h w t w s t c b s f w A V i o h a o h a e e o i l i d r i y e n a r t t s i d s y ' r h a t n s t c a g h e d o.r..l.i.k.e..t.h.i.s ...but someone will undoubtedly find a way to search for these things eventually, or they can just subscribe to the list! Anonymity is a pain in the ass, frankly, which is why I've never used it. True, I've never needed to post anything really sensitive, but going through life as "Black Unicorn" (no offence, BU) is just an unacceptable inconvenience as far as I'm concerned. Sort of like having to live on the lam, which I'm sure is no party. It seems there are more and more situations where encryption and anonymity aren't enough. One obvious case is the web, where I may want to put something of questionable legality on my home page. There's no way that crypto will render the laws irrelevant in this case. Can I get an offshore account and post the offending graphic there? Yes, but it's a pain. And when the big net crackdown comes, I wonder whether the U.S. will pressure other countries to participate and help them wipe out these data and gif havens? The net is moving farther and farther away from being a "Temporary Autonomous Zone," meaning there are fewer and fewer pockets to hide or get lost in. --Dave. -- Dave Mandl dmandl@panix.com http://www.wfmu.org/~davem