ANOTHER FAVORABLE ARTICLE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT Reply to: ssandfort@attmail.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Punksters, Strong encryption got another boost from the hard money crowd. The newsletter, /Strategic Investment/ featured an article called, "Escape to Cypherspace [sic]: The Information Revolution and the demise of the income tax." It was written by James Bennett who is the "Technology Editor of /Strategic Investment/ and is writing a book on nanotechnology for the M.I.T. Press. Here is the first paragraph: Readers of /Strategic Investment/ are already aware of the crucial role of the microchip in eroding the power of governments over their citizens. Recent developments herald an expansion of this role that promises to dwarf the effects seen to date. Just as atomic theory was seen as an arcane interest in 1939, so this development, known as public-key encryption, is now familiar only to a handful of academics. Yet in the coming decade, it may create consequences which change the life of everyone on the planet even more than the atomic bomb. Following this was some history and theory of public key. He had several nice paragraphs about PGP, the Clipper chip and the united front put up by "hackers and mainstream communications and computer companies" in opposing the Clipper. He explicitly mentions (and approves of) the threat offshore banks using encryption technology pose to taxing authorities. At one point he writes: This development [cypherspace commerce] will accelerate rapidly existing trends towards breakdown of large institutions and hierarchical structures. Governments will have much of their revenue base undercut--and any attempt to tighten the screws on taxpayers will just increase the escape to Cypherspace. But he later opines: Some observers of this trend predict a coming "crypto- anarchy" where governments fall apart entirely under the pressure of anonymous communication. This is not likely. Governments have shown an amazing adaptability over the millennia as they adjust to developments such as large-scale slavery, feudalism, gunpowder and industrialization. Quite a favorable article, over all. S a n d y
Please send e-mail to: ssandfort@attmail.com <<<<<<
On cypherpunks you wrote:
Punksters,
Strong encryption got another boost from the hard money crowd. The newsletter, /Strategic Investment/ featured an article called, "Escape to Cypherspace [sic]: The Information Revolution and the demise of the income tax." It was written by James Bennett who is the "Technology Editor of /Strategic Investment/ and is writing a book on nanotechnology for the M.I.T. Press.
Here is the first paragraph:
Could you give me a pointer for more info on this newsletter? Sounds like it's right around where I'm ending up philosophically... Also, I quietly took my unilateral Detweiler non-response pledge a couple weeks ago. I think he's getting bored with us, actually. Unfortunately, he's shown up on imp-interest... Thanks, Joe
Joe Thomas wrote, responding to Sandy Sandfort's message: ...
Strong encryption got another boost from the hard money crowd. The newsletter, /Strategic Investment/ featured an article called, "Escape to Cypherspace [sic]: The Information Revolution and the demise of the income tax." It was written by James Bennett who is the "Technology Editor of /Strategic Investment/ and is writing a book on nanotechnology for the M.I.T. Press.
Here is the first paragraph:
Could you give me a pointer for more info on this newsletter? Sounds like it's right around where I'm ending up philosophically...
I haven't seen this newsletter myself, though I knew Jim Bennett was writing up something along these lines. Jim attended our first physical Cypherpunks meeting, in the fall of 1992, and may even still be reading this list. (Jim?) Ironically, Jim was one of the folks who first heard about "crypto anarchy" in the summer of 1988, at the home of Phil Salin and Gayle Pergamit. I spoke to a group of around a dozen and got a good reaction. One of the listeners, Dave Ross, came up with the "anonymous escrow service," the escrow agent "Esther" who his mutually anonyous to both Alice and Bob, but who is motivated to be an honest broker by reason of this anonymity. (Simply, an escrow agent is interested in a continuing revenue stream set by reputaion...this is why most businesses "work" even when in most cases they could theoretically rip-off or "burn" their customers.) It's gratifying to now see the word spreading. Speaking of which, you should all be aware that the "Wired" piece on "Crypto Rebels" is available online from the "infobot" service at "Wired." To retrieve it, send a message to "infobot@wired.com" and in the _body_ of the message (which should be otherwise blank) include this line: GET 1.2/features/crypto-rebels There is a whole command set, and index of articles, available. I believe the simple messages HELP and INDEX are the ones you want. (P.S. I don't think case matters, so HELP or help should both work.) --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: 2^756839 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Note: I put time and money into writing this posting. I hope you enjoy it.
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