Arthur Chandler writes:
As someone who has gotten some pretty crusty mail for posting issues related to the social and cultural aspects of encryption -- "stay on the subject! this place is about encryption, not politics!" -- may I ask -- very politely, of course -- what these plugs for netcom are doing here? I'm using a different provider, and am very happy with them. But should I be plugging them (or dinging them) on this list?
As you all may have noticed, I discuss political issues here on the List when I think the topic is appropriate. I notice others do as well. Yes, some folks complain when non-technical stuff comes up, when the discussion moves away from Mersenne primes and thermite bombs. Yes, the mantra of "Cypherpunks write code" is oft-repeated. Of course, I notice that very few of us are writing any code these days. Some of the remailer wizards are still revising their code, and a few C-punks are trying to implement DC-Nets in code. But the vast majority of the 500+ folks on this List are either not writing crypto code, or are keeping silent about it. The intent of the "Cypherpunks write code" line, if I can venture a motivation (it was of course Eric's line), is that we are more interested in seeing the Brave New Crypto World happen than in just jawboning about export laws, the Zimmmermann case, and whether libertarians are right and socialists are wrong. Some of us are socialists, some are anarcho-capitalists, some of us are Trotskyites, and so on. So what else is new? The kind of political rancor we have largely been successful in avoiding is the traditional libertarian vs. everyone else debate that afflicts so many other groups. I am pleasantly surprised by this. Crypto has massive implications, for so many areas: privacy, taxation, national borders, data havens, export laws, redistribution of income, and on and on. Cypherpunks should write code, if they can, but in any case they ought to have some idea of where they're going. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Note: I put time and money into writing this posting. I hope you enjoy it.