At 12:28 AM -0700 9/14/97, Lucky Green wrote:

Thanks to everybody that showed up for today's meeting. Much is happening. And it is not just the evil legislation moving through Congress. Cypherpunks have been busy writing code. A very useful Ecash implementation compatible with DigiCash's protocol will be released next week. Onion Routers have been ported to Linux. Other semi-clandestine projects are moving forward as well. ...

Indeed, it was a very good meeting. Thanks to Hugh Daniel and Dave Del Torto for the planning and arrangements for the meeting space. For those who didn't make it, a few notes: * About 45 people attended. This was actually the 5th anniversary meeting, and several of us who were at the first one were at this one. (Eric Hughes, John Gilmore, Hugh Daniel, me.) *The UnFreeh legislation was a major topic of discussion. Kelly Baugh (sp?) of PGP Inc. gave a good update on the unSAFE and Procto-CODE bills. Pro-CODE is essentially dead, of course, replaced by the McCain-Kerr(e)y text, and not moving much. SAFE is in a state of confusion. The worst language, the stuff we've been talking about so angrily, is not from the committees that actually have primary control. She doubts their's enough time for this language to clear the Rules Committee and make it in NatSec-Intelligence draconian form to the floor, let alone pass, let alone reach the Senate floor. She expects Congress to adjourn for the year in late October or early November, and their just isn't time. * Their strategy is "next year." Some opposition is building. She says Sen. Trent Lott is strongly opposed to the unFreeh form. A coalition called "Americans for a Secure Tomorrow" (Madison Avenue wins again) is active. URL not immediately obvious as of yesterday (to all of those in the room with Ricochet modems, which was about half the room!). * I conducted a Delphi Poll to see what the sentiment was, at the end of the discussion. Three outcomes presented: - Outcome 1: The Congress passes and the President signs some form of the "Crypto is banned" language this year. - Outcome 2: The original form of SAFE, liberalizing crypto exports, but also felonizing use of crypto in a crime or while thinking about a crime (a joke), passes this year. (I didn't get into whether Clinton signs or vetos it.) - Outcome 3: Nothing happens. The original SAFE dies, and so does the unFreeh version. For this year. There were 7 votes for Outcome 1, zero votes for Outcome 2, and the remainder, about 30-35, votes for Outcome 3. * Much more was discussed, about corporations and their complicity, about why crypto is such an obscure issue for most Americans, and so on. The meeting got rolling at about 12:30, ran steadily for about 6 hours, and adjourned to a nice dinner at Little Sichuan, just below the meeting place. * On a personal note, I bought one of the "Communications Security Corp." Triple-DES phone scramblers from Eric Blossom, who had a pile of them at the meeting. Others can add more about what happened. --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."