One of the Diogenes entities wrote:

So now do we need a Cypherpunks Nym Server? I notice that somebody else is using my alias... ah, well.

For the record, the Diogenes who just got active on Cypherpunks isn't me, and, as you can tell by checking corresponding signatures, I'm

Which is why name collision, or nym collision, is not a pressing problem. Better to decentralize the process to local machines, to the people who care, than to any kind of Cypherpunks Nym Server.

It shouldn't come as a surprise: as with everything else in cyberspace, Vernor Vinge predicted it in True Names a decade or so ago, when he noted in passing that the protagonist Mr. Slippery downloaded a massive chunk of bulletin board to his home machine and scanned through it for messages to him, tossing (manually, I think) messages to the several other Mr. Slipperys.

Wouldn't have happened with real crypto, of course. A point Vernor cheerfully conceded recently. "True Nyms" will be the sequel. --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."