Phile Karn <karn@qualcomm.com> writes:
I want to echo Carl's sentiments. I do find talk about cryptographically enforced underground economies to be interesting, but scary as well precisely because I'm afraid of what the backlash might do to the cryptographically enforced personal privacy that I'm primarily interested in.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your position) the two are really inseperable; it is this fact above all others that I really think gives the people inside the beltway the willies when it comes to cryptography. Information has no morality and is subject to no rules save its own. It is kinda like money in that way... >:) If you have the ability to send message that is private there is nothing to prevent that message from being a digital cheque for payment of services. The "underground economy" is probably a lot larger than you would imagine, and given the current political climate you might be able to get a lot farther with the masses by telling them that digital money will give them the ability to tell the IRS where to stick thier noses than pretending it would never happen in the "crypto-enlightened age" and have an opponent bring it up as a point against strong crypto. The two are really inseperable and it seems to be of little value to pretend that they are not. jim