MIME, VT100, SLIP, TIA, And All That

17 Dec 2003

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Allow me to inject a "phenomenology of access" to the raging blaze...

I am sitting, at the moment, at a 486DX2/66 running Win 3.1 and PC/TCP.  
The Ethernet on this thing is connected (somewhere) to a fiber link which 
is itself connected to some serious bandwidth (I believe multiple T3s are 
involved).

This is an on-site job I'm doing for my company which is in the process 
of wrapping up, so soon I'll be returning to my regular workplace.  It's 
running a small net, with a Linux box routing mail via UUCP and SLIP 
(depending if someone's decided to pull SLIP up).  We have to use net 
tools directly on the Linux box; our other computers (various types and 
operating systems, all high-powered) have no ability to access the world 
except through mail and the limited feed we can afford.

Finally, as this list is high-bandwidth, my boss has told me to use a 
different account for 'punks.  That is a local freenet account, no shell 
access, no TIA.  (And before you ask: I do volunteer work for the 
freenet, and I know that there are *legal*, not technical, reasons why 
things like TIA will never be allowed.)  I must use this through dialup; 
I have pine (no elm, no mailx, no mh, no X tools, etc.).  With SLIP, I 
can POP my mail somewhere else; I'm getting ready to set up so I can do 
this from work, but it's running into bandwidth problems.  There is no 
local SLIP provider that provides to home users.  Thus, I am trapped in 
a VT100 environment, where a shell would be a great luxury.  If and when 
I get SLIP, I'll have to do it on a 386SX/20 with 4M of RAM, not exactly 
your speed demon kind of machine.

Many of the people I've talked to, and have convinced that crypto is a 
Good Thing(tm), are complete newbies.  They might have a Prairienet 
account, they might not.  Most of them are a bit intimidated by PGP, 
especially when I start talking to them about the hassles necessary to 
get PGP to work with dialup mail.  And I can't blame them; I've yet to 
get a good setup running which will allow me to PGP-ize at home through 
my dialup, even with Linux running on my poor beast of burden.

My point?  Actually, I've got a few:

1.  While I, too, have experienced the head rush that comes with fully 
graphical interfaces to high-bandwidth Net, I am also painfully aware of 
the reality that too many people are stuck with less.  Given a few weeks, 
I may be one of them, and the prospects of this may be enough to cause me 
to, regretfully, follow Tim in his exodus from the list.  (Forget the 
problem of signing!)

2.  MIME (the standard) causes my heart to flutter.  It is a wonderful 
standard.  The implications are simply staggering, and for more than just 
crypto.  I yearn for the day when Joe Average User can experience 
Amanda's MIME utopia in the comforts of his/her own home.  It will, 
however, be a while before this can become a reality.  Perhaps in 
California, where there are POPs every few blocks, it seems silly to 
suggest that we limit ourselves to the failings of the VT100; out here in 
central Illinois, however, where just establishing a single POP is an 
exercise in frustration (you don't want to know how I know this), the 
VT100 is here to stay for a long time.

3.  I note with sadness the loss of one of our top propagandists ;-) over 
this issue.  I respected his ability to see beyond the glitter of the 
possible into the cold darkness of the available, especially considering 
his comparative riches access- and hardware-wise.  The issues he raised 
about MIME, he did from a personal standpoint, but he also was able to 
speak for many who don't have such great access.  Noting the treatment he 
was given ("you don't fuckin' know what you're talking about"), I also 
wonder about my own fate when I am deprived of my own connectivity 
riches; considering that technical reasons alone just might necessitate 
my exit from the list, my resolve to stay might be undermined by the 
prospect of a list devoted to a technological elitism rather than a 
practical and grassroots effort to promote cryptography on all fronts, 
whether "technologically challenged" or not.

Tim, I've CCed this to you, frankly, in the hopes that you'll come back 
soon.  Not all of us think your middle name is Ludd.  Happy vacation!

MIME, VT100, SLIP, TIA, And All That

JEFF LICQUIA (CEI)