At 01:02 AM 8/28/01 -0500, Aimee Farr wrote:
That is not my attitude at all, Reese. I obviously like Tim's Blacknet. However, I don't like it being characterized as a subversive tool, and damn sure not in terms that might indicate a criminal conspiracy for shopping out secrets to Libya.
The point is, if its not *good enough* for taboo activity, its not good enough for everyday uses. And of course, tools are neutral; the knife OJ dressed his ex with was not an 'evil' piece of metal. Neither are guns. As metalsmiths, we might regret how we make it easier to slice members of our species, much as as technologists we might regret that nets+crypto makes some copyright unenforcable, or how networked boxes have an unintended side-effect of lessening privacy. As the first metalsmiths might have observed, no matter the pros and cons of this development, its out there, its possible, folks will be competing to refine it, so get used to it. You can always write a tome afterwards like Albert Hoffman's "My Problem Child" if you need to explain later. That being said, if you object to dark 'marketing' on a personal level, well, sure, but that's merely your personal taste.