ANOTHER FAVORABLE ARTICLE

[Sandy]

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  SANDY SANDFORT               Reply to:  ssandfort at attmail.com
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Punksters,

Strong encryption got another boost from the hard money crowd.
The newsletter, /Strategic Investment/ featured an article
called, "Escape to Cypherspace [sic]: The Information Revolution
and the demise of the income tax."  It was written by James
Bennett who is the "Technology Editor of /Strategic Investment/
and is writing a book on nanotechnology for the M.I.T. Press.

Here is the first paragraph:

         Readers of /Strategic Investment/ are already aware
    of the crucial role of the microchip in eroding the
    power of governments over their citizens.  Recent
    developments herald an expansion of this role that
    promises to dwarf the effects seen to date.  Just as
    atomic theory was seen as an arcane interest in 1939, so
    this development, known as public-key encryption, is now
    familiar only to a handful of academics.  Yet in the
    coming decade, it may create consequences which change
    the life of everyone on the planet even more than the
    atomic bomb.

Following this was some history and theory of public key.  He had
several nice paragraphs about PGP, the Clipper chip and the
united front put up by "hackers and mainstream communications and
computer companies" in opposing the Clipper.

He explicitly mentions (and approves of) the threat offshore
banks using encryption technology pose to taxing authorities.

At one point he writes:

    This development [cypherspace commerce] will accelerate
    rapidly existing trends towards breakdown of large
    institutions and hierarchical structures.  Governments
    will have much of their revenue base undercut--and any
    attempt to tighten the screws on taxpayers will just
    increase the escape to Cypherspace.

But he later opines:

    Some observers of this trend predict a coming "crypto-
    anarchy" where governments fall apart entirely under the
    pressure of anonymous communication.  This is not
    likely.  Governments have shown an amazing adaptability
    over the millennia as they adjust to developments such
    as large-scale slavery, feudalism, gunpowder and
    industrialization.

Quite a favorable article, over all.

 S a n d y

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