Hello everyone, I've been watching these accusations of pseudospoofing scroll by like everyone else, and have been quite upset by them. Cypherpunks should be very careful in this atmosphere. We don't know who to trust! Even the fiery responses to this message could be coming from tentacles! I think the tentacle activity has increased tremendously in the past few weeks because of the variety of recent exposures. So, with an eye to preventing this poison, I'm trying to establish an informal `Web of Trust' of cypherpunks who trust each other in posting with real, and not pseudospoofed identities. I talked about creating this list before, but there was no interest then. I think there is interest now. People want to know if the people they respect really exist and are who they say they are. They are concerned about a campaign to create fake accounts across many states to manipulate the trusting. They suspect that the incredible dischord on this list, historically and presently, is really the fault of the pseudospoofing. Many have complained to me of the `demonizing' and `discreditation' of people who are attempting to establish an honest network of real cypherpunks, turned into whimpering martyrs and scapegoats. For now, I'm especially interested in making contact with some California cypherpunks who have attended meetings and would like to help establish a completely pure `Web of Trust' free of poisoning by pseudospoofer. Gradually, we can get this net to grow to other states. The idea is simple. You contact me if you are fed up with accusations of pseudospoofing on this list and this dischord it has created. You tell me the people you are willing to vouch for, and the evidence you have of their existence. You help track down people who evade your queries. Of course, we are not going to invade anyone's privacy here. But we are going to keep track of people who think that showing some identification to a fellow cypherpunk is an Invasion of Privacy. There will be a set of `verified' and `unverified' listings, and we can continually update them in the face of new information. I'm sure that no loyal or honest cypherpunks would oppose this plan. It is very similar to the PGP `web of trust' model except applied to real identities and eyed with a much stronger view of keeping it pure and uncorrupted by people who wish to embezzle `real reputation credit' from others. The idea that fascinates me is that the most prominent cypherpunks posting here are going to attempt to discredit my plan, either directly or through pseudospoofed tentacles. In fact, I suspect that many cypherpunks are now holding Tentacles and Snakes in high esteem. This `web of trust' should help keep the integrity and honesty in our interactions. For those of you not interested in honesty or integrity, please refrain from sabotaging our plans and efforts at achieving it. So, in particular, if any CA cypherpunks are interested in helping me out, especially those who have attended meetings, please send me mail. Thanks! Some of you who think the bizarre accusations of pseudospoofing are completely unwarranted may be amused by helping me prove it. (Some day, of course, this whole process will be automated of tracking who is vouching for who and with what evidence, with powerful `identitification mechanisms' and `true name servers' but for know we have to do it tediously and manually by hand.)