Jim Burnes wrote:

On Sat, 24 May 1997, Lucky Green wrote:

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At 10:28 PM 5/24/97 -0400, Dave Emery wrote:

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A three way encrypted handshake between an encrypted agent that was part of the OS and a smart card and software at an ISP could be used to enforce an internet drivers license law for example, with no packets being forwarded by the ISP without hard authentication (even up to biometrics) of the user.

...

[For those new to Cypherpunks, I consider the requirement for an Internet Driver License as inevitable as the sun raising tomorrow morning. While the event is technically in the future, it will occur with a certainty that it may just as well have already happened in the past.

If this kind of thing gets through without a huge fight from the public in general and the crypto community specifically, then we get exactly what we deserve.

I will be heading for some quiet island at that point.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We now live in an age where, in between the slumber of the soap operas and the bewitchment of 'prime time,' we are fed our opinions and world-views in catch-phrases and ten second sound-bytes. At the same time, Gomez sees to it that there is enough trouble and turmoil in the world that the World Leaders, even in democracies, can chip away at human and individual rights under the guise of dealing with various 'threats' that they, themselves, have concocted as a means of retaining power over the masses. Even as the governments of the world strive to bring everyone and everything, however minute, under tight control and regulation, Gomez and the Dark Allies are behind the scenes, helping to guide the development of a technology that will, along with television, be the ultimate weapon in their struggle for the domination of all mankind---the Computer. The rich and powerful have managed to lull us to sleep with the hypnotizing power of television---stealing our thoughts and our reasoning processes in our slumber, feeding us our reality via the airwaves...according to the 'official' party line. The government and the media have placed us on neat little shelves where we are numbered and labeled according to their own wants and needs. We are allowed the illusion of freedom of thought, and individual choice, as long as we have our 'Freedom of Thought Permit 1136.51.709' and don't stray too far from the permitted paths. In the great battles of the past the Dark Forces have always been beaten by the individuals scattered in the secret places, living unnoticed in obscurity. Living quietly and unobtrusively, forgotten about in the madness storming the land, they have kept alive the spark of Thought and Reason. They were able to go quietly about their work, making contact with the individuals who were ready to escape the madness and work towards restoring Sanity in the land. This time there will be no escape. Every man, woman and child on the face of the earth will have a dossier documenting their life from the time of their arrival on the face of the planet. Information gleaned from the Department of Motor Vehicles, their Social Security Number, banks, credit cards, magazine subscriptions, charitable and political contributions. When Gomez removes the masks of his human allies, revealing them as dark agents who have been rewarded with wealth and power for doing the bidding of the Evil One, the names of the misfits and wrong-thinkers will be spit out of the computers at the speed of light---to be rounded up and disposed of in the opening salvo of the new Holocaust. Excerpt from "The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre" (1989) http://bureau42.base.org/public/xenix/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I first read the above work in 1990 when it was considered by some to be Orwellian in scope and by others to be paranoid babbling. Since then I have watched the underlying theme of the work come to fruitation slowly but inexorably. Since my first reading of it I began taking steps to secure my files and communications and in the process I discovered cryptography. In 1990 that made me a paranoid oddball to be viewed with skepticism. Now there is a name for my disease: Cypherpunk Syndrome. Not A Hypochondriac ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~