Welcome to the cypherwonks mailing list! If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list, send the following command in email to "Majordomo@Lists.EUnet.fi": unsubscribe cypherwonks Stanton McCandlish Here's the general information for the list you've subscribed to, in case you don't already have it: This is the Cypherwonks mailing list Below is The Cypherwonk Charter, by L. Detweiler, Cypherwonk Janitor The cypherwonks are a splinter group from the cypherpunks also interested in promoting and implementing cryptographic technology. However, we have unique ideas on how to successfully implement these radical new capabilities to ensure privacy without encouraging criminal behaviors like forgery and `online predation'. We are also interested in a far more ambitious goal of `technological progress' that transcends a mere obsession with privacy and anonymity. The cypherwonks believe that many aspects of a identification and government are necessary and crucial for any social stability (particularly related to judicial and law enforcement systems), and are quite alarmed at talk about a `cryptoanarchy' resulting from the mere implementation of software protocols -- although we realize that radical new forms of government may appear with these new technologies, embodied in one term `Electronic Democracy'. We believe that while sometimes the `majority' can become a `tyranny', in general the idea of voting as a civilized way of resolving proposals and `one person, one vote' are sacred, and we are interested in implementing systems that promote interaction and collaboration among motivated and enthusiastic members, whether within the cypherwonk organization or within their nations (cypherwonks, of course, try to think free of local prejudices, and globally). Cypherwonks understand that *trust* and *honesty* are inherent in all human endeavors, *particularly* communication. We recognize that people trust others not to reveal our private email unless given permission, we trust others not to use information from our mail or about their identities to adverse aims, we trust that systems delivering mail will not be corrupted by criminals, or if they get caught there will be serious consequences, and many other explicit and implicit variations. We know that there are many ingenious ways of minimizing the amount of trust required in unknown components such as with the use of cryptography or pseudonyms, and we seek passionately to invent and use them, but at the root level, email is an exchange between human beings who trust each other. Therefore, we hold a sense of ethics and morality in strong reverence, and even though we're not always precisely sure what they entail, we know that they exist and we strive for the right ideal. We abhor the idea that `it's not wrong if you can get away with it' or other variations of moral relativism. Cypherwonks are also extremely interested in promoting and implementing `digital cash', but believe that while invariably the state's taxes tend to become burdensome, few civilized, technological societies are free of them, and certainly we do not advocate tax evasion, `black marketeering', or any other subversive or illegal activities through cryptographic techniques, and even beyond this we seek design protocols that discourage these subversive aims in general, because of their toxic, fragmentary effect on social unity. Cypherwonks recognize that our mailing list is extremely critical in coordinating our movement and our fellow members. It is our central nervous system. While the list is informal, we demand a professional atmosphere, and will privately object to people who are publicly rude or belligerent. But we are also extremely careful about what we say to each other in private, because people can be extremely influenced by what they receive in mail. We would be aghast and horrified to find that somebody viciously criticized someone in private mail based on public postings, for example. We place high value on being courteous to each other and minimizing disagreement where possible, forging consensus, and the art of diplomacy in surmounting political barriers. We trust each other on the list and in personal email. We wish to have an open, uplifting, inspiring, honest, representative, polite, respectful, egalitarian dialogue. We will never use the mailing list for personal or selfish reasons -- we strive to serve our fellow cypherwonks through our postings. We are what we claim to be. We abhor secrecy, `security through obscurity', and conspirational cliques. Cypherwonks are extremely interested in promoting some forms of anonymity. However, we do not necessarily believe that others are required to read anonymous postings. To the contrary, we believe that the individual should have the tools and freedom to filter his or her own mail based on real identities. In particular, we condemn the practice of `pseudospoofing,' the dangerous deception where a person builds up a pseudonym and misrepresents it as being that of a real person's identity. We police each other on the list to prevent it, and require a promise that our members refrain from it. While our trust can be betrayed, only those that are honest are true cypherwonks, and anyone who betrays our trust we consider a dishonist hypocrite, or worse, a tra *itor. Cypherwonks are extremely interested in building tangible systems. Engineers who love to discuss the nitty-gritty details of some scheme are at home on the cypherwonks list. We like to impress each other with our knowledge but at the same time state it in relevant and humble terms. We are not trying to win popularity contests with our postings. We are trying to accomplish ambitious endeavors. We are especially ecstatic to make connections with other cypherwonks interested in the same projects we are, and cooperating to build useful tools. We like to give status reports of our intermittent real-world meetings and