Crypto Anarchists, I saw today a newspaper report that was initially surprising, then utterly unsurprising (this is possible). Namely, that the "900" sex service numbers, which have mostly been subjected to call blocking and other forms of regulatory oblivion, have been moved _offshore_. Surprised parents of teenaged children are discovering international toll calls on their phone bills! Short of barring international phone calls, the Feds can do nothing! I love it! I suppose if I followed the phone sex biz more closely, I'd've seen this trend coming. (The "unsurprising" part of my realization is that such moves offshore to avoid the regulations of one country are as old as history. With the explosion in "degrees of freedom," which we cypherpunks are riding, such movements become even easier.) (Needless to say, the operators of such services can redirect the calls back to the U.S., either via other phone lines, or via high-speed networks. The Feds can do little.) It really shows the "data transparency" of borders and the futility of trying to legislate morality through technology. (For you worried parents out there who worry about Junior calling these or any other numbers, the "politically correct" (liberrtarian :-} ) solution is also just about the only practical one: either control the phones yourself, or have a persuasive talk with Junior, or just stop worrying about who he calls--at least he won't get any diseases. The bad solution, and the essentially unenforceable one, is to have the State block certain calls, with or without the collusion of the phone company.) Things to Come: * when will the first "personal data" agencies appear, which offer dossier information for a fee? Information like rental records, skip trace cases (deadbeats), alimony situation, arrests, etc. (I'm talking about information which many of us need or want, but which "fair credit reporting" laws forbid us to buy and sell. This is the "Mom and Pop" data service I've talked about, where apartment owners, landlords, employers, and ordinary people sell scraps of data--with their actual or digital reputations on the line of course--to data brokers who cross-correlate it in databases and then resell it.) With these cypherspace tools (using remailers and some form of digital money), we can have greater freedom in buying and selling data. This may be criticized by some as "redlining," but I call it market efficiency. * preexisting medical conditions databases, similar to the above. (If I'm thinking about insuring someone, it'd be nice to have some info showing her lifestyle suggests a high risk.) * data bases and information markets for medical research. Anyone wanna buy some World War II medical experiment data? Banned in the U.S. (really), but available on the digital black market...at least some good will come of the deaths. (Cryonicists will be especially interested in bootleg medical research networks, to handle the data from voluntary suspension cases, the freezing of capital prisoners in Third World countries, and similar cases where the market makes data available that moralistic governments deem to be unethical or illegal.) * to truly smash governments, we need to see the development of information markets for government secrets: Stealth bomber plans, CBW formulas, Skipjack algorithms, locations of government facilities, etc. (I don't envision this happening anytime soon, nor do I see it as some kind of hackerish creation of the folks we usually deal with. This'll take some money, some black market connections, and will not just suddenly appear as a new newsgroup. It may already be forming in certain circles...arms dealers, black marketeers, etc. What we can offer with remailers, better encryption, digital money, and other "cypherpunks" technology is a superior medium for exchange.) Crypto anarchy is gonna change the world! -Tim -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Note: I put time and money into writing this posting. I hope you enjoy it.