Cypherpunks, It seems to me that we have a golden opportunity to apply our crypto know-how, and our special perspective, to truly important issues. In recent days we have seen on our own list commments from folks from Netscape--surely a major players in whatever's coming--and from attendees at the recent IETF meeting (that stuff is Acronym City to me, so I stay out of the debate). And contributions from Phil Zimmermann, Bruce Schneier, Steven Levy, and the like. "Can't we all just get along?" is a much-laughed-at slogan, but it seems to apply here. We have a golden opportunity to influence the Net of the future, surely a good thing. (And I haven't even mentioned the Cypherpunks connections to digital cash of various flavors.) I understand that this list is no substitute for things like the recently-occurring IETF conference (or whatever it was), but it seems unproductive to be arguing here. (Argument can be good, of course. Amanda Walker _started_ the argument, but the resulting debate has been illuminating, so I think the outcome of the argument has been generally good.) I suppose what I'm suggesting is that we treat the confluence of influntial people here as a good opportunity to debate the future. We probably can't debate fine points in great detail--the list just can't support the passing of detailed specs back and forth--but I think many of us are willing to put up with some acronyms in exchange for you putting up with our non-IETF comments (:-}). The future Net is now being architected. What better time for Cypherpunks to apply their various views? --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: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Cypherpunks list: majordomo@toad.com with body message of only: subscribe cypherpunks. FAQ available at ftp.netcom.com in pub/tc/tcmay