At 5:25 PM 12/27/95, Jeff Barber wrote:
Fred Cohen writes:
We just heard from another anonymous poster trying to destroy our rights to free speech. How long will the cypherpunks put up with this?
As Tim May has explained over and over again, "the cypherpunks" do not exist. Cypherpunks is a mailing list, not a society or club. "The cypherpunks" as a group can do nothing about what gets posted to this list except comment on it.
Precisely. Some of the many advantages of having no centralized structure/leadership, and no formal rules/policies, are: -- less wrangling over leadership and rules (if you think we wrangle and fight too much, look at organizations that spend *all* of their time choosing leaders, having boardroom fights, setting policies, fighting, electioneering, etc...it makes our easily-filtered flame wars pale by comparison) -- no leaders means no one in a position of leadership to sue for the many "infractions" some of our list members commit (violations of export laws, posting of stolen code, libel, etc., all allegedly, of course) -- no centralized focus, save for the toad.com machine, which could be replaced quickly (or cypherpunks could become "alt.cypherpunks" and then truly have no center, not that I am advocating this, for various reasons). This lack of a point of pressure, a center, means opponents have nothing to jab at...they can't write threatening letters to the "Board of Directors" demanding that certain actions cease, etc.
Finally, it should be noted that the kind of messages you're posting lately are eerily reminiscent of Detweiler's mental deterioration just before he went off the deep end. In fact, the line "How long will the cypherpunks put up with this?" may be an exact quote.
Indeed. When I saw this "How long will the Cypherpunks put up with this?" I initially thought it was tongue in cheek. Apparently not. --Tim May Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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."