-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Two recent news stories cast doubt on the principle that the international aspects of the nets will prevent governments from enforcing their laws "in cyberspace". One is the possible trade war between the U.S. and China over that country's continued support of intellectual property piracy, in video, audio, and computer software. Apparently the U.S. is very serious about imposing sanctions because of this problem, while China is threatening retaliation. It is quite amazing to me to see these two big countries going to the mat over "just bits" but as we know bits are big business now. Think of our recent discussions of putting data havens offshore. If the U.S. is willing to turn the screws on a nuclear power like China, how much protection will some dinky Caribbean country offer when people make Windows 96 and Jurassic II available for download for $5 ecash? IMO the trend is going to be toward international enforcement efforts, a general movement towards uniform information laws. The other story related to the idea that individuals can evade laws by moving from country to country as tourists. Apparently in the recent budget bill was a little-publicized change in the tax treatement of people who renounce their U.S. citizenship. (The change would be retroactive to last week and was kept quiet until then to prevent a surge of people leaving.) Since you earned all your assets as a citizen of the U.S., naturally when you leave the grasp of that country you will not longer get to take it all with you. Instead you will apparently have to pay capital gain taxes on some substantial fraction of your assets. The article I read went on to discuss the problems many countries are having with people playing citizenship games. The implication was that this may be just one step in a crackdown to close many of the loopholes that allow people to travel under one flag or another. My take on this is that human ingenuity is sufficient that there will always be new loopholes found, and that a sufficiently energetic and motivated person will probably be able to stay one step ahead of the enforcers. However, this will not be a lifestyle that can be turned into a cookbook; as soon as some trick became widely known, the loophole would be closed. So this is something which will be available to an elite but not to the masses. Hence I don't see "perpetual tourism" as something which will be a serious threat to government power. My views are somewhat iconoclastic for this list; I don't see cryptography as bringing about a libertarian/anarchist state. I continue to believe that the best and only way to achieve freedom for the mass of people is to convince them that it is a good idea. A small elite can and will continue to be able to avoid many laws, and crypto will no doubt be useful to them. But IMO it is not going to change the shape of society. Hal -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQBVAwUBL0BQchnMLJtOy9MBAQGJaAH/WTtd0bYeqKy89AUOSaSdraxN7YNZ2z42 +rJCQH0NS8x3ILT8VT8XtSIuYltBGsQkPagUqYtn3vM/rp3ssPhr/w== =JFan -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----