Tell the Fans, Not the Players / Was--Re: Rotenberg as the Uber Enemy
At 7:27 PM -0700 5/31/97, Marc Rotenberg wrote:
I don't mind the criticism if you think we're saying or doing something that really is bad for privacy, but a bunch of political rhetoric isn't worth much. And if you don't think we're not busting our butt to protect the rights of people to use strong crypto, you have no idea what's going on.
I think it would be more appropriate to say that you are *selling* your ass. Excuse me all to hell if my heart doesn't bleed purple piss for your heroic efforts for the "rights of people" but I would prefer for all of the time, money and effort people are putting into trying to get the government *not* to fuck me, when they are going to do so anyway, be put instead into developing technology to enable myself and others to route around the damage caused by government. If the same amount of money that is spent on lobbying to get the "least-bad law possible" passed was put into cypherpunk projects, then before the President proposed crypto regulations he would have to decide if it was really important enough to him to put up with the whithouse.gov site receiving 10 billion emails with "Fuck Clinton" in the subject header. Most of the "rights" lobbyists are like hostage negotiators who tell the hostage taker, "We'll let you kill two people without charging you if you let the rest go." Don't hold your breath waiting for me to join in the applause for your support of legislation compromising my privacy and freedom. As far as I am concerned, most organizations with the word "Freedom" in their name are a worse scourge than the politicians. They end up becoming self-important whores that the government uses to get a showcase stamp of approval on bad legislation. In short, "Tell the fans, not the players." I am certain that you can find a forum which will proclaim your sainthood for "almost" accomplishing something useful, but the cypherpunks list is not it. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. TruthMonger
a bunch of political rhetoric isn't worth much. And if you don't think we're not busting our butt to protect the rights of people to use strong crypto, you have no idea what's going on.
I think it would be more appropriate to say that you are *selling* your ass. Excuse me all to hell if my heart doesn't bleed purple piss for your heroic efforts for the "rights of people" but I would prefer for all of the time, money and effort people are putting into trying to get the government *not* to fuck me, when they are going to do so anyway, be put instead into developing technology to enable myself and others to route around the damage caused by government.
Quite, I think we have seen recently that even if these organisations are not corrupt, and have the genuine interest of citizens in mind, they still end up "playing the game" with the system. It is inevitable for them to try to compromise, there can be no compromise.
If the same amount of money that is spent on lobbying to get the "least-bad law possible" passed was put into cypherpunk projects, then before the President proposed crypto regulations he would have to decide if it was really important enough to him to put up with the whithouse.gov site receiving 10 billion emails with "Fuck Clinton" in the subject header.
As soon as fully anonymous digital cash systems are widely available and we have moved further along the road to creating censor-proof sites we will see the creation of the first AP bot, we all know the outcome.
Don't hold your breath waiting for me to join in the applause for your support of legislation compromising my privacy and freedom. As far as I am concerned, most organizations with the word "Freedom" in their name are a worse scourge than the politicians. They end up becoming self-important whores that the government uses to get a showcase stamp of approval on bad legislation.
This is another good point that often gets forgotten, strangely, most citizens don`t mind having a red hot poker stuck up their ass as long as it has "EFF red poker campaign" printed on the handle. Datacomms Technologies data security Paul Bradley, Paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk Paul@crypto.uk.eu.org, Paul@cryptography.uk.eu.org Http://www.cryptography.home.ml.org/ Email for PGP public key, ID: FC76DA85 "Don`t forget to mount a scratch monkey"
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Paul Bradley