Brian says:
Hmm... the problem is I don't think a majority of the people at raves are focused enough to concentrate on something as technical as that (I KNOW it isn't technical to you and me, but the average raver doesn't even know what the word encryption means). HOWEVER, raves ARE the ideal place to hand out info about what's going on, something the raver can cling onto to read and understand when he's not high on {vibes,music,drug,etc.}. Give pointers to where to get more info or where to obtain PGP, and perhaps most importantly, WHY THEY NEED IT. Within a certain amount of time, but most likely sooner than any of us anticipate, there will be more people with email access than without, so "taking the message to the streets" is becoming less and less of a fanciful idea....
Speaking as someone who has been a pretty hardcore raver for almost 2 years now
my view on this is as follows:
1) Most ravers don't want to be preached to, they do want to be
informed though, the best approach is an "access to tools" approach
of invite and education. I think that as of right now, not many
ravers even have e-mail, although there is a very organized group
that does and is strongly networked already. Some of them know
about PGP. We have already discussed whether our e-mail lists
should be encryped and the idea was rejected by the group at large.
Some of us do send encrypted messages back and forth sort of
as a novelty, sort of for practice. I think the best thing to do for
this organized group is to educate them and at least get them to
generate keys for themselves IF THEY WANT TO. Education is important
they have to realize that the key is like a bank card password , you
don't tell everbody what it is. Many people are in altered states
at raves, this is NOT the set or setting to have them generating
keys with pass phrases that they have to remember.
2) I am on a drive to "wire-up" the rave community, in the
next issue of CyberTribe-5, I have an article on PGP and why
ravers should get hooked up to e-mail. The e-mail advantage is
clear for many ravers... the ones who are wired always seem to
know where the best parties are. Why we need encryption is not
as clear. The scene is about openess, we are well aware that LE
folks are most likely on our lists, we don't post the truely
underground events anymore to public list. We set up phone trees
and private e-mail trees for events like the Full Moon Rave.
This has been sufficient to keep the authorities from having
preknowledge of our events. I personally hope that most organizers
learn about e-mail and at least generate keys in case there comes
a time that the Scene really needs secure communication between
people (I think this time is not too far off).
3) I have seen some activity by the libertarian party around
the rave scene in SF. I've thought this to be curious but as
I think about it, it makes sense, many ravers would most likely
embrace large portions (but not all) of the libertarian ideals.
Most ravers are not overtly political in the classic sense of the word.
Although there is sort of a "Politics of Ecstasy" :) so to speak,
we find that a lot of the problems that the left is still struggling
with like, equality for women and people of color (within their
own ranks!) are non-issues for us. We don't need affirmative action
policies because as a social group, we are intensely homogenous,
when you party with people across race,gender,sexual orientation,
lines, it become easy to work with them, you naturally build a network
of trust that is multi-cultural. As far as capitalism is concerned
many young people in the Scene have developed their own companies
from the selling of T-Shirts to "other things" that people buy at raves.
They have no great love for "taxation" or interfearence by the "State"
The scene is forging its own economic web and they are finding that
economic co-operation is more productive then traditional competition,
e-mail and encryption can help here. Raving IS a social political
statement, sort of like the people in (pre) nazi germany who danced
to swing,jazz,blues music which the nazis said was a "degenerate"
type of music from the negro. You can go to a rave, dance to socialy
unacceptable music, confront Authority with a statement but not land
in prison (at least not in this country). Ultimately raving is not
just another disco, it IS NOT a pick-up scene as most people going
for that reason have discovered, it is not even a drug scene although
there is drug use at raves (there are also some folks who have sex).
The Scene IS about a persons right to CONSCIOUSNESS, knowledge and
the right to think what ever thoughts s/he might want to think using
whatever tools are at their disposal. The main goal of the raves that
I go to are to reach that ecstatic state that some refer to as
"The Vibe". This usually happens in the wee hours of the morning
after 2 am when all the alcohol drinkers go home. This state is
accessable via drugs but you need the beat as well, advanced ravers
don't need the drugs any more to go into trance, this type
of trance dancing is little understood in the west but is common
throughout africa, india and parts of the middle east.
4) OK so the bottom line is I think that a SIMPLE flier informing
these young people what is at stake as far as their present and
future freedom of thought/speech/privacy sould be handed out.
Low on rethoric, high on information. Have a lap-top available
for the advanced ones who know/comprehend what PGP is and want to
be able to use it. Don't blindly give out floopies, most will never
be used.
This message has been long but I wanted to INFORM the group who might
have had preconceived ideas about the scene. I am willing to
answer any questions that anybody might have, off-line.
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