From: Anonymous Remailer (austria) <mixmaster@remailer.privacy.at> To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org
We cypherpunks live by the saying "cypherpunks code". But isn't it time for more than just coding? We're in a very real digital war for the freedom of the Internet, similar to what we faced in the 1990's but with even more at stake and a better funded, better equipped enemy. Isn't it time for infiltration? The cypherpunk community has some of the best tech people (not just programmers) out there. We could easily get jobs within government agencies and then help exfiltrate data out of them into the hands of the public of civil rights agencies like the ACLU in America. I understand how distasteful working in the belly of the beast might be but isn't it one of the most needed things cyperpunks can do right now?
Obviously, this is a well-meaning idea. However, I wonder how 'efficient' such a tactic would be. It might take years for a person to get into a position to be able to obtain and leak information. And, the longer a 'mole' stays, the more he will become dependant on that government. And, let's not fall into the trap of assuming that everyone who works for a government agrees with the policies and practices of that government. If we guesstimate that 1% of (current) government employees would be sufficiently unhappy to do such leaks, the main thing that's necessary to do is to somehow add additional inducement: To reward them for exposing that government. If Snowden or Manning, or both, get a well-publicized $5 million reward, that would invigorate a lot of similar people to do similar things. What's desirable would be a kind of anonymous reward system to allow ordinary people to reward the leakers. I haven't read enough about the origins of Wikileaks to know whether such a system was ever contemplated. Jim Bell