Another howler . . . " . . .  before Snowden, I never made a personal decision whether the government was really spying on everything or not. I just left it as unknown because it was just unclear, but still focused on countermeasures. Anyway, I can say objectively that none of these academics – it's mainly academics and some industry people who attend these events – the real people who know about cryptography are very concerned about this. . .  ." Before Snowden it was becoming clearer every year a huge amount of state-surveillance was going on. You had " Homeland Defense - a Modest Proposal ' in C-net as far back as 2002. Then delayed revelations in the NYT - deliberately delayed by the NYT.  2005. So its negligent ( or criminally negligent! ) to say this mass spying was 'unclear.'  TSTBAALAA again! The ' real ' people in his audience were almost certainly as aware as any normie might have been and probably concerned enough in a way not familiar to a borderline imbecile ( idiot-savant type ) or psychopath like Chaum. The Amash-Conyers bill was almost passed by such laymen. ' Real ' members of Congress. Look if Chaum has any 'real'  friends they might want to stage an intervention now because the way he's going he's certifiable already.  Really.