Poindexter is no dummy. And criticism of TIA based on his past felony trial, the basis of William Safire's main attack, is on the wrong track. Would TIA be more acceptable if it were being pushed by a true Boy Scout? Of course not.

Yeah, I was wondering when someone was going to comment on this. Methinks the whole Pointdexter bit, particularly in this context, a little fishy...a trial balloon perhaps? "How much are you little frightened people willing to give up in order to let us strong/smart leaders protect you?"

Much of the TIA plan has resonances with long-discussed Cypherpunk issues: local trust formation, various types of interaction, belief networks. The difference is that TIA wants Men with Guns (TM) to control the formation and distribution of these belief networks, whereas Cypherpunks understand that the formation will be largely anarchic and will ultimately undermine central authority in the usual ways.

A lot could be said here, and has been I'm sure. As I continue to do my "homework", its becomming increasingly clear to me that things like public key were only a mattter of time, both from the ease-of-implementation standpoint, as well as the sheer historical/economic/technological "obviousness" and necessity of it. In this sense, NSA appears like many big organizations I've worked for: out of touch with many emerging aspects of reality due to an internal culture that quickly recognizes those who aren't going to tow the line. The only thing they can do is slow things down. Crypto-based virtual structures will inevitably arise if for no other reason than there's going to be a lot of $$$ in it (kinda ironic, I think...). HOWEVER, the conspiracy theorist in me still wonders if all of "this" was not precisely because it was recognized that we are rapidly passing through the point of no return. This "Illuminati" may have decided drastic measures were needed "in order to save all that we hold dear"(which in their case means control of the unempowered and unwashed masses by the powerful). No, I don't think I believe this, but the circumstantial evidence is compelling enough so as to demand careful evaluation.

Granted, many of us hope for the promised tactical nuke which destroys much of Big Brother's infrastructure in Washington (plus removes a million or so inner city welfare mutants). This would set back BB and accelerate trends in our direction.

Uh..."hope for"? Surely if things ever come to where somthing as terrible as this could reasonably be hoped for, it is only after all possible alternatives have been pursued. And as far as I'm concerned, if a computer I can purchase from Circuit City is now powerful enough for the (completely decentralized!) peer-to-peer sharing of massive files and heavy crypto, then it looks to me like it's just a matter of time until many of the objectionable activities become not only obviously pointless, but suprisingly out-of-funds. _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail