I want to update the general list on how well our "Cypherpunks Santa Cruz" party/meeting went last Saturday. Apologies to those who get this twice, as I just sent it out to the folks on the mailing list of interested folks I keep. (Not all of them are readers of this list, so....) It was a great success, from all indications, and we'll be doing it on a regular basis. "Meet locally, communicate globally." --Tim
Date: Sat, 2 Sep 1995 11:03:33 -0700 X-Sender: tcmay@mail.got.net Mime-Version: 1.0 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May) Subject: Cypherpunks Santa Cruz -- Great Party!
This is a report on the Cypherpunks Santa Cruz party/meeting held last Saturday at my house. For those of you on this list (52 at last count, obviously not all locals) who missed it, it was considered by many who commented to me to be a great success.
Some highlights:
- I counted 23 attendees, from as far away as Oregon (Greg Broiles) and San Luis Obispo (Jeff Simmons), and with a bunch of folks from Marin and the Greater Bay Area.
- We got rolling around 5, when the first cars started filling up my parking area. Things kept going 'til 5 in the morning (!), when the last stragglers departed and those staying the night found their futons and crashed.
- Not too much was formally done. We had a round of introductions (and I provided name tags, which were purely voluntary, in that anyone could volunteer not to wear them and hence not be remembered by others...most wore them). Later, after the barbecue, Bob Fleming and Cherie Kushner described their work on micropower, ultrawideband radio "localizers." While not strictly "crypto" related, there are overlapping themes (privacy, surveillance, and even some of the math overlaps).
- Mostly it was a chance for our local community of folks interested in these issues to mingle and make contact. I expect we may have a larger focus than just "crypto" (although Cypherpunks have always had a larger focus than just cryptography, of course). Especially as there are folks doing some neat stuff on the Web out here in Santa Cruz.
- Two folks from my local ISP attended (Jay and Marc), and they have some thoughts on possibly hosting the Cypherpunks archive site on their system, and other ideas. They stayed until nearly 5 a.m., talking with us about networking, Web pages, etc.
(Santa Cruz has long been a hotbed of computer activity, especially of the more independent sort. So the good turnout from local folks could be very promising for Cypherpunks themes. Interestingly, Linus Torvaldis (sp?), of Linux fame, had just been in town a couple of days before.)
I want to avoid opening the meeting up too broadly, to, for example "anyone interested in computers," as this would produce unpredictable turnouts and lots of folks who want to learn to use Windows, or need help in dBase, etc. Better to keep an ostensible focus on "Cypherpunks" themes, with forays into related areas.
Some people commented to me that they hope the meetings/parties are monthly, but I suspect every other month may be more reasonable...after all, a monthly meeting would mean another one only 3 weeks from today, and I can't see this happening.
Anyway, I expect to announce another one for sometime in October. I also may be having a "PenSFA" party at my place in early November (11/11 is being considered), and may merge the two. It's a good opportunity for mingling.
Another attendee offered the possibility of having a Cypherpunks Santa Cruz meeting/party at her house, so some rotation to other venues may start to happen. I think the notion of having these things at private houses is better than trying to get space at a local company, for example. Parties in houses are more intimate, less formal, and don't require the "corporate approvals" that are sometimes needed. Besides, I'm offering my house and have no contacts at local companies.
I expect to be able to host a lot of these things, and if some others volunteer as well, we'll be set. (I expect attendance will not equal the 23 at this "first" meeting, for obvious reasons. This means meetings/parties could even be held in apartments or condos. But I'm not suggesting this, only noting it.)
So, thanks for coming!
--Tim May
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."