Arthur Chandler writes:

What I find odd is the number and vehemence of posts ON A LIST DEVOTED TO ENCRYPTION saying "Hey, it's a fact of life, accept it" -- even dragging out Machiavelli's profoundly mistaken "if you can't enforce it, don't prohibit it."

"It's a fact of life" is a fact central to the, ahem, cypherpunk cause. Virtual personas are here. The only question is how this will change the way people deal with each other over the net.

Of all the groups on the Internet, I would think that this one would be in a special position to say "put your digital John Hancock on your post if you want to to taken seriously."

That is one possibility: people start signing posts with IDs that verifiably mean something over a wider range of net and RL spaces than just a single small world like cypherpunks@com.toad. Personas which consist only of postings here might come to be taken less seriously, even if their content appears useful and constructive. I do not see what authoritarian action is needed, desirable, or practical. I would rather see a consensus emerge over how to behave in this new environment. I notice you didn't sign your post. Can I conclude that you do not want it to be taken seriously? -- ____ Richard Kennaway __\_ / School of Information Systems Internet: jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk \ X/ University of East Anglia uucp: ...mcsun!ukc!uea-sys!jrk \/ Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.