Egalitarianism vs. Strong Cryptography

John E. Kreznar jkreznar at ininx.com
Wed Aug 3 03:40:55 PDT 1994


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In Message-Id: <199407312314.QAA16264 at netcom4.netcom.com>, Mike Duvos
wrote:

> No personal attack intended.  I am a strong supporter of
> egalitarian societies with strong social safety nets, and think
> that youth emancipation will likely be the next big civil rights
> movement in this country.  I am also willing to pay high taxes in
> order to feel secure that all citizen-units are suitably housed,
> well-fed, and taken care of.  This is entirely self-serving on my
> part, since it cuts down on social unrest and street crime.

Yet in the present message he observes that

> The lesson to be learned here is that societies based on a
> diffuse "Web of Trust" organization are far less dangerous than
> those based on a powerful centralized authority.  A powerful
> centralized authority inevitably devolves into interacting with
> its subjects using the protocol...

>            Do What We Say Or We'll Kill You!

> Or in its more tasteful two-part form...

>            1.  Do What We Say.
>            2.  You're Under Arrest, And If You Resist,
>                We'll Kill You.

> At that point, Wars, Wacos, Encryption Bans, and BBS Porno Show
> trials lurk just around the corner.

Mike Duvos, how I wish I had the time to try to understand how you
reconcile these seemingly incompatible sentiments!

How can you achieve ``egalitarian societies with strong social safety
nets'' without using ``powerful centralized authority''?  As a proponent
of ``high taxes'', how can you also favor strong cryptography?  Do you
doubt that expropriating ``high taxes'' from your neighbor will be made
more difficult in a world with strong cryptography?  In view of the
natural diversity among people, how can you achieve an ``egalitarian
society'' without someone who says ``Do What We Say Or We'll Kill
You!''?

	John E. Kreznar		| Relations among people to be by
	jkreznar at ininx.com	| mutual consent, or not at all.

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