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Date: Sun, 19 Jan 1997 08:40:04-800
To: cypherpunks at toad.com
>From "Timothy C. May<tcmay at got.net>
Subject: To Whom It 'May' Concern
Reply-To: "Timothy C. May"<tcmay at got.net>
Sender: owner-cypherpunks at toad.com

"We have met the enemy, and he is us."

--Tim May

Just say "No" to "Big Brother Inside"

We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that ain't
allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:

Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money
tcmay at got.net | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information
markets
Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments.

"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information
superhighway.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:



The 'Mark of the Toad'.
That's what the Channel Government's news releases had called
his grandfather's tattoo when they had displayed it in 3D color
on GraphiCubes around the world. Jonathan's grandfather had the
tattoo done in an era when there was little danger associated
with being a member of the loosely-knit crypto-anarchists group
known as the CypherPunks.

Even after the beginning stages of InfoWar stirred its ugly head,
Jonathan's grandfather refused to have his tattoo removed, as
did most of the original CypherPunks list members. He considered
it a badge of honor. For Jonathan, however, the Mark of the Toad
had remained a mark of disgrace, forcing his family to flee for
their lives and change their identities.
Jonathan had managed to rise above all of this and put it behind
him, becoming a normal, accepted member of the society around
him. Now, however, his life of normality was being threatened.

Toad.com.
The original home of the CypherPunks mailing list.

Jonathan had recognized the format of the message header immediately,
having seen many like it in his grandfather's study as a child.
Normally, only the Masters of Antiquity would be capable of discerning
this header to be from a bygone era when InterNet transmissions
were still carried largely over land-lines, but even they would
probably not recognize the significance of the date, which was
burned into Jonathan's mind from the countless hours he had spent
poring over CypherPunks messages that he had purloined from his
grandfather's hidden files.

January 19, 1997.
The beginning date of the 'moderation experiment' on the legendary
CypherPunks mailing list. The beginning probe in preparation for
the launching of InfoWar-an experiment which had failed miserably
and had caused a delay in the plans of the Evil One. A delay caused
by the damnable insolence of the terminal misfits among the CypherPunks.
An insolence that was rumored to be fueled by the Circle of Eunuchs,
fanning the 'flames' of dissent among the CypherPunks, helping
them to resist the herding of their list members into the group-mindset
desired by the Evil One.

Jonathan sat frozen in his seat, once again, his brain locked
from the major dichotomies being produced as a result of his present-in
which the CypherPunks were a villainous band of rogues who had
instigated the launching of Channel War II-and his past, in which
his grandfather had been exposed both as one of the major players
in both the launching of Channel War II, and as traitorous scum
who had sabotaged the goals of the CypherPunks in that same historical
battle.
Jonathan's grandfather wasn't just a CypherPunk. He was the Fool.

Jonathan reached for a bottle of Jim Beam and, in doing so, realized
that he had subconsciously come to a decision. He would seek out
Bubba Rom Dos.

He would seek out the Circle of Eunuchs.


Chapter 1 - Arnold / Chapter 2 - Jonathan