recently my local newspaper ran a section on privacy preservation in cyberspace. it quoted Dave Banisar of CPSR as talking about how future companies might have a "privacy safe" sticker affixed to them. *wow*, what a great idea. this would be a great project for the cpunks. most people here are familiar with Point Communications and how they do the "top 5% of web sites" and authorize sites to use their logo. this is such a neat idea: it's one of the first reputation rating companies in existence, in a sense. furthermore, it's *private*. TCM and others have advocated that these companies are going to become ubiquitous (rating *everything* including hot-button things like doctors, lawyers, hit men, etc. <g>) and I can see it happening quickly. here's my idea that some enterprising cpunks might like to pursue. create a CYPHERPUNK PRIVACY SAFE logo and distribute it to various companies who adhere to the criteria that it names!!! the steps would be: 1. create a logo 2. create a set of criteria for companies who are "privacy safe" or who adhere to cpunk privacy guidelines. 3. write out this list in careful detail. one might also have different levels or grades, such as "level 5 privacy protection" etc. one could conceivably use it as a negative reinforcement too, handing out "F's" to the worst companies. 4. POPULARIZE this. get companies to put the logo on their sites like they do with the Web logo. now, I don't know if people here realize how much great potential this idea has. the media just LOVES to quote these kinds of judgements when it's a slow news day (witness Blackwell's "worst dressed" list or "best haircuts" or whatever else). the immediate objection I can see is that all kinds of people such as PM will rant that there is no "official" cpunk privacy standard. great!! I propose somebody create their OWN and call it that without any reservations. if the cpunk name is not copyrighted, if no one owns it, then anyone can do whatever they want with it!!! ah, that's glorious anarchy for sure. if multiple standards emerge, I'm sure one will tend to become dominant, or at least the competition between them will have them covering different areas (such as FAQs in newsgroups work). this idea really has FANTASTIC protential imho. in fact I propose that Community Connection is in a really excellent position to latch onto this idea-- they already have many press releases and the industry is watching them. notice that this sticker could be used to handle the key escrow issues as well-- like one of the levels being that the company is ideologically opposed to mandatory key escrow or something. different levels of cryptography could be involved. someone will have to experiment with perhaps multiple logos and different grades. remember, the thing should be as absolutely obvious and easy to comprehend as possible for even Joe Sixpack to get it. let's create a cpunk "approval" rating that has as much recognition some day as the "intel inside" ad campaign has generated!!!