I've had two messages this afternoon asking if people could/should post the Cyhernomicon on AOL and CompuServe. I replied in a negative way to each request, but maybe I need to explain further. My "Crypto Anarchist Manifesto" has been spread to many boards. Which is good, I guess. What's not good in this electronic age is dealing with the dozen or so messages I get in most weeks asking questions, challenging the assumptions, requestiing explanations of terms like "MIPS" and "ISDN," etc. ("Like, dewd, anarchy is like cool..heh heh heh" or "I'm writing a paper for my Poli Sci class and I have some questions...") I just don't have the time to do this kind of "outreach." Some of them I tell about the Cypherpunks list--some of you may've joined via this sort of thing--but others I just thank, telling them I can't engage in a letter-writing process with them. Back to CompuServe and AOL. The FAQ I wrote has a lot of Cypherpunks-centric material in it, and is not intended as an "outreach" document (as, say, some short libertarian books by Hazlitt and Karl Hess were intended to be). I don't even plan to announce it on Usenet, so announcing it on CompuServe, AOL, etc., seems like a bad idea. On the other hand, putting it on these services and then announcing it only to Cypherpunks is OK...just another distribution channel. But don't advertise it to non-Cypherpunks, for these reasons. I just can't handle the questions that would arise. I hope you all can understand this. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."