NY Times has a story today about the offshores being pressured by the big nations to curtail tax evasion and avoidance. The islands first resisted assaults on their sovereignty, but have agreed to do a study of the issue. On a related matter is the likelihood of nations and private interests engaging in cyberwar over who controls financial and perhaps intellectual property resources. Steve Levy last evening said he believes cyberwar is soon to come, and cryptography will play a crucial role, but he said this would be between nations, whereas it is probably more likely that nations, utilizing their combined intelligence and law enforement agencies, will combat private interests not each other, in particular those parties attempting to run financial transactions outside government control. The nations argue they must unite to protect their citizenry against criminal businesses and outlaws, the othe side argues the need to protect government invasion of private affairs. What is lacking in Levy's CRYPTO is that it does not appear to consider that multiple governments will collude against their citizenry, rather than each doing so. Steve at one point cited cypherpunks as a hopeless venture to overturn government with ideas of cryptoanarchy. And laughed at that. Then continued propounding the false idea that NSA is needed to protect US interests. Not a word about such interest being those of the USG. The full story of crypto is yet to be written, in particular its deceptions, perhaps a piece by Vin McLelland, one by Declan, one by Tim May, if not by distributed cyperhpunks not quite so malleable as solo individuals given privileged access on the condition that . . . What about that timing of CRYPTO release and the NSA show?