"Only on the Cypherpunks list..."
At 10:00 PM 7/25/95, Nathaniel Borenstein wrote:
Well, only on the cypherpunks list would you be likely to find general agreement that PGP'ed credit card numbers are "easier" than First Virtual. Many thousands of extremely naive net citizens are now happy FV customers, and I seriously doubt that most of them could master PGP without a full-day tutorial. (We're not talking about rocket scientists here, folks.)
A lot of truth here...sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good. After all, only on the Cypherpunks list would you be likely to find general agreement that setting up a separate Intel box running Linux so one can create a suitable mail client is the preferred way to do secure e-mail? (Smileys for the :=)-impaired...I have nothing against Linux, and even browsed the new O'Reilly book recently. But I'm _still_ glad I'm "just a Mac user.") I have no idea what First Virtual's current or future business plans are, but I do expect more solid encryption, a la PGP or "real" RSA (licensed), will be coming soon. I assume FV is planning for this likely development. --Tim May .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@sensemedia.net | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-728-0152 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Corralitos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."
On Tue, 25 Jul 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:
(Smileys for the :=)-impaired...I have nothing against Linux, and even browsed the new O'Reilly book recently. But I'm _still_ glad I'm "just a Mac user.")
Well you know there is a Mac version of Linux -- not sure if it's available for PPC yet. there also is/was a version of FreeBSD a while back too. (Don't know any details as I haven't done this myself yet.) You could just add another hard drive and run Linux off of it, or install it on a SyQuest cartridge and set the startup disk to point to your SyQuest drive. If you want Linux, start up with the cart. If you don't, startup without it, or with the drive off. Then you can have the best of both. >;-) =================================================================93======= + ^ + | Ray Arachelian | Amerika: The land of the Freeh. | \-_ _-/ | \|/ |sunder@escape.com| Where day by day, yet another | \ -- / | <--+-->| | Constitutional right vanishes. |6 _\- -/_ 6| /|\ | Just Say | |----\ /---- | + v + | "No" to the NSA!| Jail the censor, not the author!| \/ | =======/---------------------------------------------------------VI------/ / I watched and weeped as the Exon bill passed, knowing that yet / / another freedom vanished before my eyes. How soon before we see/ /a full scale dictatorship in the name of decency? While the rest / /of_the_world_fights_FOR_freedom,_our_gov'ment_fights_our_freedom_/
On Thu, 27 Jul 1995, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
Ray Arachelian writes:
Well you know there is a Mac version of Linux -- not sure if it's available for PPC yet. there also is/was a version of FreeBSD a while back too. (Don't know any details as I haven't done this myself yet.)
NetBSD, not FreeBSD. There is also MachTen.
Thanks. :-) MachTen though isn't freeware as Linux is. :-) The problem I have with it is that it's a hosted OS and as such is limited to the Mac's problems. i.e. - lack of true preemptive multi-tasking and protected memory. Though the M680x0 series and all Mac motherboards can support both preemption and protected memory, Apple in its grand wisdom (or lack thereof?) is only now writing it into the next version of it's OS. Other than that I love the Mac. :-) =================================================================93======= + ^ + | Ray Arachelian | Amerika: The land of the Freeh. | \-_ _-/ | \|/ |sunder@escape.com| Where day by day, yet another | \ -- / | <--+-->| | Constitutional right vanishes. |6 _\- -/_ 6| /|\ | Just Say | |----\ /---- | + v + | "No" to the NSA!| Jail the censor, not the author!| \/ | =======/---------------------------------------------------------VI------/ / I watched and weeped as the Exon bill passed, knowing that yet / / another freedom vanished before my eyes. How soon before we see/ /a full scale dictatorship in the name of decency? While the rest / /of_the_world_fights_FOR_freedom,_our_gov'ment_fights_our_freedom_/
Excerpts from mail: 27-Jul-95 Re: "Only on the Cypherpunk.. "Perry E. Metzger"@imsi. (292)
NetBSD, not FreeBSD. There is also MachTen.
Yes, I can attest to the fact that MachTen is *amazing*, particularly its seamless integration of the Mac and UNIX file systems. It's worth getting it even if the only thing you ever use it for is to do "find" and "grep" through your Macintosh files..... -------- Nathaniel S. Borenstein <nsb@fv.com> | When privacy is outlawed, Chief Scientist, First Virtual Holdings | only outlaws will have privacy! FAQ & PGP key: nsb+faq@nsb.fv.com | SUPPORT THE ZIMMERMAN DEFENSE FUND! ---VIRTUAL YELLOW RIBBON-->> zldf@clark.net <http://www.netresponse.com/zldf>
Excerpts from mail: 25-Jul-95 "Only on the Cypherpunks li.. Timothy C. May@sensemedi (1596*)
I have no idea what First Virtual's current or future business plans are, but I do expect more solid encryption, a la PGP or "real" RSA (licensed), will be coming soon. I assume FV is planning for this likely development.
Well, one thing we've announced in public is that if/when Visa and MasterCard actually announce the encryption standard that they have said they're going to define, we will support it. Basically, our attitude towards encryption has been that the lack of widely-agreed-upon standards and lack of widespread deployment were show-stoppers for large-scale commerce. Our hope is that if Visa & MC agree on a format, it won't have those problems. We didn't think that FV itself had enough clout to set an encryption standard for the world, nor did we see enough of a bandwagon behind the current PGP format (or any others). So we concentrated on making commerce work without encryption, building up our customer base, our customer service department, and so forth. We're promising our sellers as smooth a transition to the eventual standards as we can possibly manage... -- Nathaniel -------- Nathaniel S. Borenstein <nsb@fv.com> | When privacy is outlawed, Chief Scientist, First Virtual Holdings | only outlaws will have privacy! FAQ & PGP key: nsb+faq@nsb.fv.com | SUPPORT THE ZIMMERMAN DEFENSE FUND! ---VIRTUAL YELLOW RIBBON-->> zldf@clark.net <http://www.netresponse.com/zldf>
participants (4)
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Nathaniel Borenstein -
Perry E. Metzger -
Ray Arachelian -
tcmay@sensemedia.net