Re: Let the Snake Oil Flow

At 4:22 AM 2/23/96, sameer wrote:
All valid points, but when the likes of Nathaniel Borenstein & his cohorts use the failures of snake oil to discredit all cryptography, then we have a problem. (Not to say that Netscape is selling snake oil... but I figure that FV would capitalize on a snake oil failure to further their anti-cryptography agenda just as they have used the Netscape RNG bug)
Please don't misunderstand...I'm not _approving_ of snake oil, just suggesting that maybe the list shouldn't go into paroxysms every time someone reveals their Captain Midnight Decoder Ring crypto system. Sci.crypt used to be wracked with such issues...I don't look at it much these days, so I don't know if it still is. But the Cypherpunks list has become the de facto place to debate new crypto systems, which we can look at as an achievement as well as a curse, so it's inevitable that new flavors of snake oil will be sold here every few weeks. --Tim May THE X-ON CONGRESS: INDECENT COMMENT ON AN INDECENT SUBJECT, by Steve Russell, American Reporter Correspondent....You motherfuckers in Congress have dropped over the edge of the earth this time... "the sorriest bunch of cocksuckers ever to sell out the First Amendment" or suggesting that "the only reason to run for Congress these days is to suck the lobbyists' dicks and fuck the people who sent you there," ....any more than I care for the language you shitheads have forced me to use in this essay...Let's talk about this fucking indecent language bullshit.

Please don't misunderstand...I'm not _approving_ of snake oil, just suggesting that maybe the list shouldn't go into paroxysms every time someone reveals their Captain Midnight Decoder Ring crypto system.
Right. it's a tough call though. Suppose the list didn't go into paroxysms and someone lost big by using snake oil. Then our friends at FV will say "oh look at this crypto which lost people money". -- and we did nothing to prevent that opportunity. I'm not saying that paroxysms are -good-, just that one should be wary of the consequences of what may happen if someone loses big to snake oil. -- Sameer Parekh Voice: 510-601-9777x3 Community ConneXion, Inc. FAX: 510-601-9734 The Internet Privacy Provider Dialin: 510-658-6376 http://www.c2.org/ (or login as "guest") sameer@c2.org
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sameer
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tcmay@got.net