Cyphercitizens, Paul Robichaux writes:

My opinion, which stands, is that we have spent an inordinate amount of time in frivolous discussion about T-shirts. My personal opinion is that you build esprit de corps by common effort and common achievement, not by how you dress (although my primary experience with that sort of team spirit comes from my time in the Marines, where everyone wears the same kind of T-shirt :)

I respect Paul's wishes. No one will force him to wear the Cypherpunks t-shirt, nor to wear the official Cypherpunks sidearm, nor to use the secret Cypherpunks handshake. (In fact, I doubt anyone will actually get around to making the t-shirts. If it happens, it'll probably just be some entrepreneur on the List, and will not come from a collective decision--which is impossible, anyway.) But I still maintain that the reason only one person has talked to the journalist mentioned has *nothing* to do with the List working on t-shirts....I mean, come on! If we drop all speculations about t-shirts--which a lot of folks seem to be having some fun at, and some stimulating ideas for publicity (which, ironically, may be *very* valuable in communicating our message to journalists and others--will we all suddenly start working on the "real" Cypherpunks projects? (What are they, by the way? No one seems to know. Probably just as well.)

Many of our illustrious contributors have talked with high-powered journalists in the past, and I applaud that effort. Considering the target market of Phil's article- other professional journalists- I think spending time to answer his questions is worthwhile.

Sounds fine to me. Those who want to talk to him, should. Most serious journalists, though (and here I admit to running a risk of sounding judgmental or snotty...not my intent), do enough groundwork to _seek out_ the opinions of those they have gotten interested in. The "cattle call" approach has been seen increasingly, as with the woman journalist who announced she was researching an article on "Pedophiles on the Net" and she wanted comments sent to her! Contrast this with Kelly, Levy, Markoff, Dibbell, etc., all of whom have familiarized themselves with the communities they intended to cover and then have contacted specific folks. I'm not knocking either Mr. Mulivor or Mr. Hum (if I remember his name correctly), and they may indeed be fine reporters. Certainly they should be treated politely and helped by whomever wishes to. [To pick a nit: asking readers to call long-distance to give their tips is unusual, at least from my experience. Reporters typically take great efforts to call their sources, not the other way around. But I'll concede that perhaps the three journalists mentioned so far--Mulivor, Hum, and the woman writing on pedophiles--are using the "call me" approach to generate initial contacts. They should be aware of course of possible skewing effects (not that the rest of us are not also skewed, of course :-} ).]

To me, it's more important to educate reporters in (for example) Huntsville and Peoria to our cause than to spread the word to trendy, likely-to-be-sympathetic-to-our-cause folks who read _Wired_, _Village Voice_, and _Whole Earth Review._

Well here I just have to disagree completely. It's just a plain and simple fact that these sorts of magazines--"Wired" and its cousins--are having an enormous impact on folks. This is how many of our List members first learned of this List, this is how much of the crypto debate is being framed, and this is where interested readers will turn for information. (To the list I would add "Mondo 2000," "Boing Boing," "Communications of the ACM," and a few other mags and journals.) Also, the articles in "Wired" and "WER" were exceptionally long and well-written, quite likely beyond what could be conveyed in a small-town newspaper. A small-time paper could just not justify such in-depth coverage. Sound bites would be more likely. Ironically, as I said earlier, the planning for a t-shirt may actually generated some really memorable sound bites! And the wearing of such t-shirts, should anyone actually just go ahead and make them (hint! hint!) could actually be the catalyst for a local paper doing a story on these "Cypherpunks" and their provocative comments about privacy, Big Brother, and the NSA. But I digress. Reporters from Huntsville and Peoria are not to be disdained, but the List cannot be expected to educate and spoon-feed them. (Anyone who wants to, can, obviously. I've not heard of anyone refusing to talk to them, if they have contacted members of this List.) The journal Mulivor writes for is familiar to me through interviews on the C-SPAN cable t.v. show with Brian Lamb, but I haven't seen it myself. Those who want to talk to him should, by all means.

...

Mulivor on the alt.whistleblower list. (Lance speculates, correctly I think, that Mulivor has no Net access. If true, I question that Mulivor is such a high-priority journalistic target anyway. Maybe he is. But I'm sure enough folks will talk to him. The talk of mail programs and t-shirts is not likely to affect this.)

Well, Lance missed the boat here; I have had an ongoing exchange with Phil via his e-mail account (mulivor@crc.monroecc.edu), which last I heard counted as net access...

By "Net access" I meant Usenet, as in the "alt.whistleblowers" and "sci.crypt" newsgroups. My comment derived from this remark by Lance Dettweiler when he posted Mr. Mulivor's call: "This posting went through a gateway so the author is probably not able to read news; reply via email." I certainly hope Mr. Mulivor is able to get Net access--not just e-mail--so he can get a better picture of what's going on before his article appears. If Mr. Mulivor lives in the D.C. area, perhaps the D.C. Cypherpunks in Northern Virginia (mostly) can meet with him, perhaps they can even invite him to attend their next meeting (I hear Boston/Cambridge is planning their meeting to coincided with the California meeting, Saturday, August 14th, so perhaps the D.C. folks will also be doing so.) Finally, I think this little debate has been useful and enjoyable (to me, at least). It helps us to focus on the issues of what we are, what's important, how to talk to journalists, and so on. Kind of like what planning to put on a t-shirt does. -Tim May --