Doomsaying, development, and deployment
A number of people have been saying things that amount to "imminent death of the Cypherpunks mailing list predicted, film at 11." Well, folks, if it dies, it will be the fault of those who just pick up their toys and go home. There's been a fair amount of discontent here in the the last year. I don't think it's a matter of any one flameful discussion (of which many have gone by recently). Rather, I think it's a matter of frustration. PGP has acheived a fair amount of recognition in the user community at large, and lately even in the mainstream press. However, beyond PGP and some anonymous remailers, there's not a lot else out there. There won't *be* anything unless we build it. No one's going to come riding in on his white horse to hand us crypto-security. We all agree we need better tools, and that everyone else needs better tools before they'll start adopting the technology we so fiercely believe can save us from the erosion of our civil liberty and personal privacy. So let's build those tools. Strange as it may seem, I actually have to weigh in on the side of Netscape in some of the arguments that have come by in the last week or so. They are building stuff, after all. That's better than most of the people on this list, from what I can tell. To put my money where my mouth is, I'll shut up completely until I can post an announcement of some useful crypto tool. It might be commercial, but it might be free--my employer does occasionally agree to give stuff away for the good of the Internet. Amanda Walker InterCon Systems Corporation
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So let's build those tools. Strange as it may seem, I actually have to weigh in on the side of Netscape in some of the arguments that have come by in the last week or so. They are building stuff, after all. That's better than most of the people on this list, from what I can tell.
How about starting a todo list so we can reach a consensus on a prioritized list of goals. This may help us come up with projects we can work together on. I'm itching to do some coding...
To put my money where my mouth is, I'll shut up completely until I can post an announcement of some useful crypto tool. It might be commercial, but it might be free--my employer does occasionally agree to give stuff away for the good of the Internet.
Amanda Walker InterCon Systems Corporation
sdw -- Stephen D. Williams 25Feb1965 VW,OH sdw@lig.net http://www.lig.net/~sdw Senior Consultant 510.503.9227 CA Page 513.496.5223 OH Page BA Aug94-Dec95 OO R&D AI:NN/ES crypto By Buggy: 2464 Rosina Dr., Miamisburg, OH 45342-6430 Firewalls/WWW servers ICBM: 39 38 34N 84 17 12W home, 37 58 41N 122 01 48W work Pres.: Concinnous Consulting,Inc.;SDW Systems;Local Internet Gateway Co.29Nov94
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Amanda Walker -
sdw@lig.net